Khepupara Radar Station inaugurated

Khepupara Radar Station in Patuakhali went into operation yesterday to monitor tropical cyclones generated in the Bay of Bengal and strengthen the early warning system to reduce casualties by natural disasters.
Defence Secretary Kamrul Hasan inaugurated the radar station as the chief guest at 11:00am.
Japanese Ambassador to Dhaka Masayuki Inoue and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Additional Resident Representative Eiichiro Cho were present as the special guests.
The radar station has been installed under phase two of Improvement of Meteorological Radar System at Cox's Bazar and Khepupara projects with assistance from Japan's grant aid amounting of Tk 125.60 crore.
Radar at Khepupara was earlier installed in 1988 under the assistance of Japan's grant aid with two modern S-band meteorological radars.
In 1994, this radar was connected with the Storm Warning Centre in Dhaka with microwave link to receive radar imageries directly from Khepupara, about 22-km north from Kuakata sea beach.
But with the expiry of normal lifetime of the radars, it was necessary to replace the radar.