Cyclone Mocha has left a tragic toll in Burma, with 145 dead, most of them Rohingyas, according to the ruling military junta. In addition, it is estimated that at least 800,000 people require emergency food aid, the UN warned. The storm has been the most powerful to hit Burma and Bangladesh in the last decade, with torrential rains and winds of up to 195 km/h wreaking havoc on buildings and flooding streets.
The cyclone has devastated villages and disrupted communications in much of the state of Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya reside in displacement camps after decades of ethnic conflict. According to the military junta, the storm killed four soldiers, 24 residents, and 117 people of “Bengali” origin, a term used pejoratively to refer to the Rohinyah Muslim minority.
The World Food Program (WFP) is present in Burma but needs significant financial resources to provide food assistance to 2.1 million people, including the 800,000 people affected by the devastating cyclone in Burma and Bangladesh. Anthea Webb, WFP’s deputy director for Asia and the Pacific, reported that at least 800,000 people require emergency food aid. Although the military authorities have allowed WFP access to the worst-affected areas, these areas are also scenes of violent repression by government forces.
The military junta has denied media reports of the deaths of 400 Rohingya, calling them “false” and threatening to take action against the media that published them. Since seizing power in the February 2021 coup, the military junta has arrested numerous journalists and shut down media outlets deemed critical of its regime.
According to junta-backed media, boats have been dispatched, and rescue personnel and firefighters have been deployed to Rakhine, along with thousands of sacks of rice. In Bangladesh, authorities told AFP that no deaths were reported during the cyclone, which passed close to sprawling refugee camps housing nearly a million Rohingya who fled Burma’s 2017 military crackdown.