Powerful Tropical Cyclone Mahasen made landfall in the southern Bangladesh district of Patuakhali on Thursday, killing 12 people.
The cyclone caused far less damage than initially feared, and has now been reportedly downgraded to a tropical storm.
The storm reportedly hit with winds of up to 100 km/h, and was heading for the ports of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, near the border with Myanmar. The Bangladesh government had raised the cyclone signal level to seven - on a scale of 10 for low-lying areas around the region.
Reports quoting the country's Meteorological Department said Mahasen was not expected to cause serious damage as it had weakened, but the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it remains a category 1 cyclone with potential to adversely affect the lives of millions of people across the region.
Humanitarian agencies in areas likely to be hit have started preparedness activities, including pre-positioning emergency supplies. OCHA also reports that the government has ordered evacuation of some one million people from 15 coastal districts.
More than 100,000 refugees, mostly stateless Rohingya Muslims, live in camps in low-lying areas along Myanmar's western coast after they fled ethnic violence between majority Buddhists and the Muslim minority in the Rakhine state.
The U.N. agency for humanitarian affairs has urged the Myanmarese government to move the refugees to higher ground, but some of them have resisted calls to evacuate.
Storm alerts have been issued also in some Indian states on the east coast.
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