Bangladesh is scrambling to evacuate nearly one million people from low-lying areas as a powerful tropical cyclone pounds the country's southern coastline. 


The cyclone, dubbed Mora, made landfall early Tuesday morning between the cities of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar and is heading north, authorities in the capital Dhaka said. 


"More people were still waiting for evacuation," said Abu Syed Mohammad Hashim, acting director general of the department. Authorities have also shut airports and ports in the regions expected to be worst hit. 


Khalid Mahmood, a director at Disaster Management Department, told CNN that no major casualties had been reported yet. 


Residents were seeking shelter in schools and other safe buildings in 17 coastal districts, Hashim said. 


Officials have organized 3,800 relief centers ahead of the storm. 


Medical teams have been formed and doctors and nurses have had their leave requests canceled in anticipation of the storm's landfall, according to Bangladeshi state media. 


Hashim told the state-run news agency BSS that rescue teams comprised of members of the armed forces and other agencies were also on standby. 


With about 700 kilometers of coastline, Bangladesh is exposed to cyclones and is often battered by deadly storms. Seven of the top ten deadliest storms in recorded history have occurred in either Bangladesh or Myanmar, according to CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. 


"A combination of its lengthy and exposed coastline, inadequate infrastructure and plenty of fuel in the way of warm Bay of Bengal waters play a role in making this region the deadliest in the world as it relates to tropical cyclones," Javaheri said. 


At the southern end of the Bay of Bengal, Sri Lanka has been experiencing heavy monsoon rains and severe flooding, which have left at least 160 people dead and dozens more missing. The two weather systems, however, are unrelated

Source: NNA