Musings
Doomsday Averted
Photo: Rashed Sumon
As we reached the Chittagong Railway Station at about 2:30am Wednesday night there was clear symptom of an impending disaster. Incessant rain accompanied by gusty wind was suggesting of a fast approaching cyclone, Mahasen.
Panic gripped the port city as the day broke with clouds hanging heavy and menacing. The Met office forecasted that the cyclone might strike the Chittagong coast at around 10:00am. People chose to remain indoors and were preparing for Mahasen and its devastation.
But suddenly, the rain stopped and the sky started to brighten. Many came out of their residences to do their daily activities. Still it was not the usual picture of the bustling city, also known as the country's business capital. Business establishments, educational institutes, the export processing zone were all closed and activities of the airport and seaport were suspended.
Photo: Rashed Sumon
Confusion gripped people at around noon as there was no sign of Mahasen, although there was a gusty wind and intermittent rains. Many of the two lakh people in the area, who had taken refuge in the cyclone centres and safe places to safeguard them from Mahasen, started leaving for their homes. They were afraid that their valuables would be looted by opportunists as the weather improved.
There were others who were actually waiting to see the storm. A large number of people gathered at the Chittagong city protection embankment built along the coastline of Patenga—not to enjoy the rough sea but experience, first hand, the strength of the cyclone. From a fresh weather forecast, they came to learn that Mahasen might hit the coast in the afternoon.
Fear and anxiety in the faces of the people were still evident. Many, especially the elderly could not heave a sigh of relief, despite the growing possibility that the impending disaster had been averted. The trail of destruction of 1991 cyclone still haunted them.
“Twenty-two years have passed but I cannot not forget the scenes of hundreds of floating bodies of men, women and livestock in the seashore and rivers,” said sexagenarian Hemayet Hawlader, sitting at his shop at Khajortola on the embankment.
He said people could not save themselves as strong wind and tidal surge washed them away. “I saved myself by grabbing a tree,” recalled Hemayet as he looked at the rough sea.
About 1.38 lakh people lost their lives as the cyclone with a speed of 225-kilometre per hour accompanied by a 35-feet high tidal surge battered 257 unions in 20 upazilas of 15 different coastal districts at midnight on April 29, 1991, according to official statistics.
Many families were completely obliterated; others had only one or two surviving members. Sixty-five-year-old Anisur Rahman was one of those who lost every member of his family. “I had to start a new life after the cyclone,” he told The Daily Star standing amid a crowd on the embankment on and around of which about 3,000 people live.
As evening approached the crowd on the 21 kilometer embankment was growing fast. People who had taken shelter in the cyclone centres returned home. Curious people far from the city and nearby places also gathered to see the weather —stormy wind and huge tidal waves slashing the embankment.
Mahasen crossed the area almost without any major impact on the life and properties of the people in Chittagong and Cox's' Bazaar, both of which were supposed to have been the prime targets of the cyclone. It frequently changed directions, lost strength and crossed Bangladesh touching Patuakhali, Barguna, Bhola districts, leaving 17 people dead and damaging crops, trees and houses.
Compared to the destruction left by super cyclones SIDR and Aila that hit Bangladesh's coastline in 2007 and 2009, Mahasen had merely given a scare to the people.
Meanwhile, the mood of the crowd on the embankment had drastically changed. They were now actually enjoying the cool weather; some were seen taking photographs of each other. There was no sign of fear in their faces at all. “I was frightened since last night but now I thank the Almighty for sparing us,” said a young man of the area, Munir smiling widely.
Before night fall, all was calm at the embankment and in Chittagong. This time around at least, the worst was over.
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