Germany: 50,000 face evacuation in Hannover over Second World War bombs

Berlin : Around 50,000 people in Germany's Hannover city will be evacuated from their homes on Sunday while experts defuse five Second World War bombs, officials said on Saturday. The operation is the second largest of its kind carried out in the country, and will affect around a tenth of the city's population.

The buildings set to be evacuated include seven care homes, a clinic, and a tire plant. Officials hope those affected will be able to return home by the evening.

The evacuations will begin at 9 a.m., and residents have been advised to take necessary items like medication with them when they leave, as well as turning off gas and electrical appliances.

The city has set up a programme of museum tours, children's films, and sporting events to help those being evacuated spend the day as pleasantly as possible. Tens of thousands of soup portions are also being prepared, according to the German news agency DPA.

Allied planes bombed Hannover heavily during the war, killing thousands and destroying much of the city, the BBC reported. The largest bomb-related evacuation in Germany since the war happened on Christmas Day last year, in Augsburg.

Some 54,000 people were evacuated after a 3.8 tonne bomb was unearthed during building work.