District administration in Chattogram started evacuating people from five vulnerable upazilas since this morning to combat the strongest cyclone, Amphan, ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal.

The administration opened 1,770 cyclone centres at Sandwip, Bashkhali, Anwara, Sitakunda and Mirsarai to accommodate 150,000 people, our staff correspondent reports.

Md Elias Hossen, deputy commissioner of Chattogram district, told The Daily Star that they began awareness campaign through loudspeakers in the areas asking people to move to cyclone centres.

Officials along with volunteers of Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) and Red Crescent have been working to make sure that people are moving to the centres to take shelter, DC Elias said.

"A total of 284 medical teams are ready and around 4,046 cyclone centres have been prepared to accommodate four lakh people with sufficient stocks of food and medicine," he said.

At least 6,000 CPP volunteers and 8,000 Red Crescent volunteers are working to relocate the vulnerable people, he added.

When contacted, Shafiqul Alam Sujan, chairman of Raipur union in Anwara, adjacent to the sea, said his area does not have any cyclone shelter but they are ready to open primary schools so that people can take shelter during the cyclone.

"We are trying to bring people to the shelters. But many seem reluctant to go there," he added.