The cyclone Bulbul that wreaked havoc in the country’s coastal districts in the early hours of Sunday damaged 4,589 trees, including Sundari, in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and a Unesco world heritage site.

 The authorities concerned of the Sundarbans East and West zone have assessed the losses separately caused by the cyclone in the Sundarbans and submitted their reports to the divisional Forest Department on Thursday.

Mohammad Moinuddin Khan, Forest Conservator of Khulna region, said the east and west zones of the Sundarbans were asked to submit a list of the losses in the forest after the devastating cyclone.

After visiting different parts of the forest, the Divisional Forest Officials (DFOs) submitted a list of damaged trees and other infrastructures but wild animals did not suffer any harm, he said.

According to the information given by the DFOs, some 4,589 trees worth Tk 50.35 lakh were uprooted while infrastructures worth Tk 62.85 lakh got  damaged.

Bashirul Al Mamun, DFO west zone, said some 4,002 trees were damaged during the storm and 874 of them  are Sundari and 1,534 Geoa trees.

DFO Mahmudul Hasan of Sundarbans East zone, said a total of 587 trees worth Tk 8,62,742 were damaged by the cyclonic storm.

Besides, water vessels and other infrastructures worth Tk 39.60 lakh were damaged by Bulbul, he said.

Dr Mahmud Hossain, professor of Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline of Khulna University, said “The Sundarbans acted as a protector during many natural disasters from 1584 to 2019 when it faced 74 big natural disasters.”

He stressed the need for protecting the mangrove forest to keep the coastal areas safe from any natural disaster.