RAKHINE STATE, May 16 (EW): Cyclone Mocha slammed Western Myanmar at the weekend, killing several Rohingya Muslims, according to locals, a humanitarian organisation there, and a local media report on Tuesday.
According to two locals and a Rakhine State-based non-governmental organisation called Partners, the cyclone left behind significant damage and claimed a large number of lives.
At least 41 deaths were reported in Rohingya areas, according to Myanmar Now, which cited locals.
Cyclone Mocha made landfall between Sittwe in Myanmar and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh with gushing winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour, the most severe storm in the Bay of Bengal in over a decade.
The storm had largely reduced by late Sunday, sparing the refugee camps housing nearly a million Rohingya in Bangladesh, where authorities said there had been no casualties.
Communications were still mostly down with Rakhine state’s capital Sittwe, home to nearly 150,000 people and which bore the brunt of the heavy storm.
Hundreds of people who took shelter on higher ground were returning to the city along a way littered with pylons, trees, and power cables.
