Evacuation of people on hold Friday, May 25, 2001

Administration evacuated some 10,000 salt-marsh workers, placed the army on alert and cautioned people living in interior areas.

But plans to evacuate thousands more from the coastline were put on hold as the cyclone dawdled.

"It's good news that the cyclone storm is moving in a westerly direction," Gujarat Chief Relief Commissioner P. Panirvel told Reuters.

"We have put on hold the evacuation but we are not taking any chances and all the district authorities have been put on alert to deal with any eventuality."

Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in New Delhi said relief workers were on alert and ready to travel from Ahmedabad, the state's largest city, and Bhuj.

Bhuj was torn apart by this year's earthquake, in which some 30,000 people died, and the town is still teeming with relief teams working to rehabilitate the homeless.

Gujarat shut down one of its biggest ports, Kandla, on Friday just in case the storm swept in.

Kandla was hammered in 1998 by a cyclone that killed more than 1,000 people.

Port chairman A.K. Joti told Reuters that ships docked at Kandla had been moved away from jetties to minimize damage and all normal operations had been suspended.

Republished from Indiaabroad News Service