‘They ignore us on purpose’: Cyclone deepens Rohingya suffering

Frontier Myanmar
June 15, 2023

Rohingya children stand by destroyed houses at Ohn Taw Chay camp in Sittwe on May 16, two days after Cyclone Mocha's landfall. (AFP)

 

The persecuted Muslim group made up the bulk of the death toll from Cyclone Mocha, with survivors accusing the military regime of failing to prepare adequate evacuations and issuing warnings at the last minute. 

 

When Cyclone Mocha barrelled through Rakhine State last month, Ko Tun Myint* and his family were unprepared.

“It was announced that there would be a storm, and they told us to relocate, but most of us thought Mocha wasn’t serious,” he said. “That’s why many of us stayed in the village.”

A Boat Carrying 180 Rohingya Refugees Vanished. A Frantic Phone Call Helped Untangle the Mystery

khaosodenglish
By Associated Press
KRISTEN GELINEAU reported from TEKNAF, Bangladesh
June 6, 2023

Jamal Hussein’s boat in the storm. (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

The wind had whipped the waves to nearly three times the woman’s height when her panicked voice crackled over the phone.

“Our boat has sunk!” Setera Begum shouted, as a storm threatened to spill her and around 180 others into the inky black sea south of Bangladesh. “Only half of it is still afloat!”