Cyclone Asani: Andaman MP wants disaster management machinery on high alert, writes to Lieutenant Governor

Andaman and Nicobar Islands MP Kuldeep Rai has urged the Lieutenant Governor to put the islands’ disaster management machinery on high alert as Cyclone Asani brews in the Bay of Bengal, the Press Trust of India reported. Rai has also requested Admiral (Retd) DK Joshi to declare a holiday in schools and colleges on March 19 and 21.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast that the Bay of Bengal low-pressure would become well-marked by March 20, turning into a cyclonic storm on March 21. The cyclone is expected to move along and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands coasts before reaching coasts of Bangladesh and north Myanmar on March 22.

The Met department has also advised fisherfolk not to venture into the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal during this period.

Citing the warning, Rai, in a letter to the Lieutenant Governor, suggested suspending all tourism-related activities in the archipelago from March 19-22 as a precaution.

If the Met department’s forecast comes true, the cyclonic storm is likely cause serious damage to the Union Territory, Rai said in the letter. As a result, he urged the islands’ disaster management machinery to be put on high alert. He has also sought the deployment of sufficient officials in the remote islands to manage the situation.

Rai also requested the Lieutenant Governor to ensure effective dissemination of weather information to the people.

The storm could be the first Bay of Bengal cyclone in March since 2000, the Met department’s data suggests. Officials of the weather agency told The Indian Express that cyclones in March were not rare. Climatologically, between 1891 and 2021, there have been eight cyclonic disturbances, recorded by the Met department, in March 1907, 1924, 1925, 1928, 1938, 1994, 2000, and 2018 either in the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal.