Global Courant 2023-05-16 10:31:36
Communication problems make it difficult to estimate the extent of damage from the massive storm.
Rescue and relief efforts are underway in northwestern Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh after Cyclone Mocha crashed ashore. A humanitarian group working in the affected area says hundreds have died and some Rohingya camps have been destroyed.
The cyclone — one of the most powerful to ever hit the region — made landfall on Sunday between Sittwe in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where about a million mostly Muslim Rohingya fled after a brutal crackdown in 2017.
On Monday night, Myanmar’s military regime declared conflict-ravaged Rakhine, which it does not fully control, a “disaster zone” after winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour) knocked down trees and telecommunications towers and torn roofs. brought. from buildings.
Torrential rain and a storm surge of between 3 and 3.5 meters (10-11.5 feet) also caused widespread flooding in the low-lying area, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) saying widespread devastation was in and around Sittwe.
“Early reports suggest damage is extensive and the needs of already vulnerable communities, especially displaced people, will be high,” it said in an update Monday, noting communication with the area was difficult.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies show damage to buildings and infrastructure in Sittwe as a result of the cyclone. The top photo was taken in February 2023 and the bottom one after Cyclone Mocha (Maxar Technologies via AFP)
More than two million people lived in Cyclone Mocha’s path, including hundreds and thousands of Rohingya who remained in Rakhine after the 2017 crackdown, where they lived in squalid camps with severe movement restrictions.
Partners Relief and Development, which works in Rakhine, said Rohingya contacts living near Sittwe said their camps were nearly destroyed and other early reports “counted the death toll in the hundreds.”
Aung Kyaw Moe, a Rohingya activist and adviser to the Human Rights Ministry of the National Unity Government, said on Twitter that the number of deaths in Sittwe alone was 400.
The military-owned Myawaddy Channel reported Monday that three people were killed in the cyclone.
Myanmar was plunged into crisis after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, sparking mass protests that have turned into an armed insurgency.
People in Rakhine have suffered years of conflict and displacement, with the military and the United League of Arakan (ULA), the political wing of the ethnic Arakan army, each claiming administrative control in the state.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar ran a report in its Monday edition that showed army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at an emergency meeting of the natural disaster committee.
Reports from NGOs suggest the cyclone wreaked havoc on temporary camps where many Rohingya in the state are forced to live (Sai Aung Main/AFP)
The coup leader said it was “necessary to lend a helping hand to all citizens of Myanmar without leaving anyone behind”. Myanmar does not consider the Rohingya citizens.
State media reported on Tuesday that the general had visited Sittwe but did not report any casualties, according to Reuters news agency.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar and Bangladesh were evacuated to shelters ahead of the cyclone.
While camps in Bangladesh appear to have escaped the worst of the cyclone, there were reports of a fire in one of the densely populated settlements on Tuesday.
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