The government is taking initiatives to set up more cyclone shelters which will be used as multipurpose centres in coastal areas.

This was stated by Chairman of parliamentary standing committee on food and disaster management ministry Saidul Haq at a seminar in the city yesterday.

Speakers at a roundtable yesterday called upon the government to prepare special housing policy for the 45 million people living in the coastal areas where they are most vulnerable in case of national disaster.

Low-lying Bangladesh risks devastating impacts from rising world sea levels caused by climate change with risks that millions will be forced from their homes this century, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said.

She told Reuters that rich nations would have to help the densely populated country of 150 million people, possibly by opening their borders to environmental refugees.

The new study, conducted by scientists at the University of Delhi, India, and Duke University in the United States, analysed the 1999 'super cyclone' that ravaged Orissa, killing an estimated 10,000 people.

Mangroves

Up to 250,000 children are at risk of malnutrition and disease in southern Madagascar as a political crisis and tropical cyclones exacerbate severe food shortages, the UN children agency said.

UNICEF said that the rains had failed again in the Indian Ocean island's southern region, devastating the last harvest and reducing the amount of safe water available for human consumption.

Madagascar's vanilla producers expect that a double hit from destructive cyclones and a deadly political crisis will cut output of the food flavouring and hurt buyers' confidence during the 2009-2010 season.

Three tropical cyclones have torn across the Indian Ocean island since January damaging crops while producers fear that a power struggle will prompt importers to buy from elsewhere.

Thiruvananthapuram: Satellite data from the US National Atmospheric and Space Administration (NASA) and a new modelling approach could improve weather forecasting and save more lives when future cyclones develop.

Can warn against tsunamis, cyclones

Parul Sharma

A

Bangladesh authorities reopened ports on Saturday and hundreds of thousands of people headed home after a cyclonic storm crossed the coast causing less damage than feared, officials said.