Category five cyclone Mocha may have claimed many more lives in Myanmar than previously thought. Eyewitnesses and NGOs in the particularly hard-hit state of Rakhine on the west coast today reported at least 30 deaths.
APA/AFP/Sai Aung Main
Many people in various refugee camps in the region are still missing. The displaced said more than 100 people were still being sought.
The tropical cyclone hit Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh on Sunday with winds of over 250km/h. It was the strongest cyclone to hit the region in over a decade. The full extent of the damage is slowly becoming clear.
The eyewitness could not confirm reports of possibly 300 to 400 deaths circulating on social media. “The storm has just passed, it will take time to count all the victims.”
Region hit by many camps for displaced people
About 100,000 people lived in the stricken area, many in displacement camps, others in villages belonging to Myanmar’s otherwise predominantly Buddhist Rohingya Muslim minority, Moe Hla said.
The Rohingya have been persecuted for decades. After a military coup two years ago, however, many more people in Myanmar are living as displaced people in their own country because of the ongoing violence.