“It’s a disaster”

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Many internally displaced people in Myanmar have lost everything because of the destructive force of the severe cyclone “Mocha”. “The situation is terrible. People don’t even have clean water,” said Shwe Phyu, who helps Rohingya refugees in the hard-hit region around the city of Sittwe. “It’s a disaster,” said the 24-year-old of the German news agency. The exact number of fatalities is completely unclear.

“There’s about a village here where 2,000 people lived – now there are only a few hundred.” Most of the others are believed to have perished in the Category 5 storm. Many are at their wit’s end and unable to seek shelter after the destruction of their emergency shelters.

400 dead in Burma

The ruling military junta, which seized power two years ago, is doing nothing to help those affected. Instead, the military hinders the helpers’ work. Since the coup, the generals have violently suppressed all resistance.

A spokesman for the “Government of National Unity” (NUG), a kind of democratic shadow government, spoke of at least 400 deaths on Tuesday. However, according to eyewitnesses, the actual number of casualties could be considerably higher. The dead are mainly members of the Muslim Rohingya minority, who have been persecuted for decades in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.

No deaths in Bangladesh

Cyclone “Mocha” raged over land on Sunday with winds sometimes exceeding 250 kilometers per hour. It was the strongest cyclone to hit the region in more than a decade. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told dpa that many Rohingya refugees were totally helpless at his mercy. The cyclone also swept over neighboring Bangladesh, but so far there have been no fatalities there.

“We believe the death toll reported so far is likely to rise significantly,” Robertson said. Those who survived urgently needed food, medicine and shelter. “Now is the time to help the Rohingya population while significantly stepping up international pressure to end the abusive restrictions these displaced people have faced for years,” Robertson said. (SDA)

Source: Blick