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Cyclone Amphan, the most powerful storm in the Bay of Bengal in over a decade, ripped through eastern India and Bangladesh on May 20, killing at least 86 people in West Bengal, destroying thousands of homes and uprooting innumerable trees. Authorities are still struggling to mount relief operations amid a lockdown to contain the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic.

The cyclone, equivalent to a category-3 hurricane, tore through thickly populated areas of southern Bengal, making landfall on the coast at sustained wind speeds of 170 kilometres per hour (kmph), with gusts of up to 190 kmph and stormwater surges of up to 16 feet. The plight of millions who have lost their homes has been made worse in a situation when the coronavirus epidemic is raging across the region.

COVID-19 has multiplied the VULNERABILITY of people who are at risk of displacement by storms, floods and other climate disasters. “The government infrastructure has been inadequate to provide shelter to all the people evacuated as the cyclone hit,” said Harjeet Singh, Global Lead for Climate Change at ActionAid INTERNATIONAL. “Now, to maintain social distancing to avoid the spread of coronavirus, there is a risk that cyclone shelters will be too small and will lack proper sanitation services, especially for women.”

Cyclone Amphan is considered to be the biggest storm to hit Kolkata in living memory. Photo from Mariners’ Base Camp.

Cyclone Amphan is considered to be the biggest storm to hit Kolkata in living memory. Photo from Mariners’ Base Camp.

The DOUBLE whammy of COVID-19 pandemic and disasters like Cyclone Amphan requires revised standard operating procedures during the evacuation, ACCORDING to Sanjay Vashisht, Director of Climate Action Network in South Asia (CANSA). “Our disaster MITIGATION infrastructure falls short in ensuring social distancing, Vashisht said. “More evacuation centres need to be constructed to be able to accommodate less people to ensure distancing, and more medical facilities and quarantine centres are required,” he said.

“With the current COVID-19 pandemic measures requiring social distancing, it will be extremely difficult for people in cyclone shelters,” said climate scientist Saleemul Huq of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development. “This was indeed unforeseen but represents a double emergency.”