NEW DELHI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 47,000 people have been shifted to shelter homes in India's western state of Gujarat, as the catastrophic cyclone "Biparjoy" approaches the country's western coastal areas, said government officials on Wednesday.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday.
A senior official of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Mohsen Shahidi told media persons that the process of evacuation of people from the coastal areas had been underway for the past two days.
According to him, as many as 442 low-lying villages in eight districts in Gujarat are likely to be affected by the extremely severe cyclone.
An order by the district authorities in Daman issued an official order prohibiting the movement of people on beaches, promenades and other places near the coast, on June 14-17.
The Indian Navy said that as many as four ships with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relie bricks embarked are on standby at short notice.
