PM Hasina stayed awake observing cyclone Bulbul: Hasan Mahmud

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina passed a sleepless night on Saturday observing cyclonic storm Bulbul which lashed the country’s coastal districts early Sunday, said information minister Hasan Mahmud.

“The prime minister gave necessary directives to take preparations to face cyclone Bulbul and the post-cyclone situation. She spent a sleepless night,” he said.

The minister was speaking at a meeting arranged at Awami League’s Dhaka South office on the Bangabandhu Avenue marking Shaheed Noor Hossain Day on Sunday.

Criticising BNP for its allegation that the government did not take necessary steps to tackle the cyclone, the minister said the massive preparations taken by the administration saved the lives of people and minimised the extent of damages.

He said thousands of people lost their lives while there had been colossal damages to property in the 1991 cyclone during the BNP tenure. “Even over 35 fighter aircrafts of Bangladesh Air Force suffered damages due to the mismanagement. The aircraft were washed away into the road from the airport.”

Five people were killed in Bagerhat, Khulna and Patuakhali districts as cyclone Bulbul made a landfall in Khulna and adjoining southwestern part of the country early Sunday before weakening into a deep depression.

Meanwhile, two other people, who took shelter in cyclone centres, died of cardiac arrest after being panicked in Patuakhali and Satkhira districts.

The cyclonic storm, which turned into ‘severe’ from ‘very severe’ on Saturday night, completed crossing the West Bengal-Khulna coast near the Sundarbans around 5:00am and then weakened further into a deep depression.