Tribune Desk
May 30, 2017
The cyclone has destroyed almost 10,000
thatched huts in Balukhali and Kutupalong camps
Thousands of houses in the Rohingya refugee camps have
been damaged as a severe cyclonic storm battered
Bangladesh’s coastal areas. Read more: http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/environment/2017/05/29/signal-7-seaports-mora-nears-chittagong-port/
Refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar provide shelter for an
estimated 200,000 Rohingyas, who fled Myanmar to escape persecution.
Shamsul Alam, a Rohingya community leader, said almost
all the 10,000 thatched huts in the Balukhali and Kutupalong camps had been
destroyed in the storm.
“Most of the temporary houses in the camps have been
flattened,” he told Reuters. Read more: http://reut.rs/2reolFy
Omar Farukh, a community leader in Kutapalong camp, said
conditions were dire: “Now we are in the open air.”
An estimated 75,000 Muslim Rohingyas are believed to have
fled to Bangladesh since Burmese army launched an operation in response to
insurgent attacks in last October.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar does not recognise Rohingyas,
one of the most persecuted communities in the world, as citizens and dubs them
‘Bangalis’.
A UN official working with Rohingya refugees said the
damage in the camps could not be assessed while the storm was raging.
“…Most people in Balukhali and Kutupalong makeshift
settlements have stayed,” said the official, declining to be identified.
Weather officials however said the cyclone, which formed
in the central Bay of Bengal on Sunday, was not as bad as they had feared.
Nearly 70% homes on the Saint Martin’s island have been
damaged.
Cyclone Mora is expected to weaken as it moved inland towards India’s northeast. Heavy rain has
been forecast for Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Read
more: http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/environment/2017/05/30/cyclone-mora-moves-inland-towards-tripura/