HYDERABAD: India moved 50,000 people to relief camps on Monday as it began evacuations a day before Cyclone Montha, intensifying over the Bay of Bengal, is set to bring strong winds and heavy rains to its east coast, officials said.
Authorities canceled holidays for emergency staff and ordered schools and colleges to close in coastal areas of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and the eastern state of Odisha forecast to be hit by the harsh weather.
The cyclone is likely to turn into a severe storm by Tuesday, before crossing the coast of Andhra Pradesh later in the day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
“Evacuation of people from near the coast in Kakinada district has already started,” a disaster management official in Andhra Pradesh told Reuters.
Nearly 50,000 people have been moved to relief camps, a government report showed.
Disaster teams have fanned out to move families from low-lying areas in Andhra Pradesh, where the government expects 3.9 million people to be affected.
Fishermen in the neighboring state of Odisha were warned to avoid venturing to sea.
Cyclones frequently hit India’s east coast between April and December. A super cyclone that killed nearly 10,000 when it hit Odisha in October 1999 remains one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters.
Authorities in the southern state of Tamil Nadu have urged people to keep alert following forecasts for heavy to very heavy rain in some districts.
Chennai, the state capital, is prone to flooding during intense rains, such as those brought by Cyclone Michaung in 2023.
In the Himalayan nation of Nepal, disaster authorities have warned of possible rain and snowfall from Tuesday through Friday and advised trekkers to keep alert.
Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains across Nepal killed 53 people this month.
India evacuates tens of thousands as cyclone Montha gains strength
https://arab.news/8z736
India evacuates tens of thousands as cyclone Montha gains strength
- Cyclone likely to turn into a severe storm by Tuesday, before crossing the coast of Andhra Pradesh later in the day
- Disaster teams have fanned out to move families from low-lying areas in Andhra Pradesh
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
