Cyclone Mahasen pulls its punch NEW: "The situation is turning normal," a Bangladeshi official says NEW: At least 12 people were killed Hundreds of thousands of people had been relocated to safer areas (CNN) -- Tropical Cyclone Mahasen jogged northward Thursday prior to striking the coast of Bangladesh, averting the widespread disaster that government authorities had prepared for. Still, at least 12 people were killed, thousands of thatched houses were damaged and trees uprooted, the state news agency said. "The situation is turning normal and the people have started returning home after some 200,000 people took overnight refuge at cyclone shelters at Barisal Division," divisional commissioner of Barisal Mohammad Nurul Amin told Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS). "The damage was not that much what we feared, and people who took shelters have already started moving to their houses as the weather is becoming almost normal," he said. Bangladeshi authorities had relocated hundreds of thousands of people in vulnerable areas to safer ground ahead of the storm's arrival. Tropical Cyclone Mahasen The storm's strongest gusts reached 90 kph (56 mph), weaker than a hurricane, BSS said. Authorities had suspended port activities at Chittagong, a major transport and commercial hub, and canceled all flights to and from the city's airport. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had warned that Mahasen could put millions of people in the surrounding region at risk. On Wednesday, aid agencies and local authorities scrambled to prepare residents and to put emergency supplies in position. Bangladeshi authorities relocated at least half a million people from the coastal districts of southeastern Bangladesh, the top administrative officer of Chittagong Division said. Authorities prepared thousands of buildings as cyclone shelters. The OCHA put the number of people ordered to relocate by the Bangladeshi government at 1 million nationwide. There was reason for the caution: In 1970, Cyclone Bhola killed some 400,000 people, according to the OCHA. Cyclone Sidr killed nearly 4,000 people in 2007, and Cyclone Aila killed about 200 people in 2009. On Rakhine's coast, Myanmar authorities and relief agencies worked to relocate tens of thousands of Muslims who had been living in makeshift camps in low-lying areas since last year, when their homes were destroyed in sectarian violence. Sectarian violence erupted last year in Rakhine between Buddhists and Muslims, resulting in the deaths of scores of people, most of them Rohingya. Fifty-eight people were missing and an unspecified number died, the agency said.