Winds up to 150 km / h as cyclone Mora flattens Rohingya refugee camp

About 200,000 refugees had found shelter in the Balukhali and Kutupalong camps. Maximum alert in the ports of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. 70% of houses on the island of Saint Martin have been destroyed. Nearly 350,000 people evacuated.

Dhaka (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Winds of up to 150 kilometers per hour and heavy rains swept away a refugee camp where 200,000 Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar. They are the most serious consequences of the cyclone Mora that is flagging the southern coasts of Bangladesh, after touching Sri Lanka and India, leaving behind a long wave of devastation: more than 180 victims in the first case, 24 dead in Bihar.

The storm, typical of the monsoon season, but far greater than in recent years, has destroyed more than 10,000 Rohingya refugees' shelters in the Balukhali and Kutupalong camps located in the Cox's Bazaar area. Shamsul Alam, Islamic leader, told Reuters: "Most of our shelters have been swept away." Omar Farukh, leader of the Kutapalong field, added: "We are now outdoors."

The Dhaka authorities have raised the alert level to 10, the maximum allowed, for the ports of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, where the winds reached 117 km / h and caused a dangerous landslide. At least 350,000 people had been evacuated from the two ports before the arrival of the storm, a precaution that prevented victims.

The storm caused waves of up to two feet high that flooded and covered the coastal areas of the southeastern part of the country, but since yesterday all the 295-passenger transport services had been suspended. About 70% of houses on the island of Saint Martin have been destroyed. In the coming hours the winds are expected in the northeastern states of India.

• Bangladesh
• cyclone Mora
• storm
• rain
• monsoon
• refugee camp
• Rohingya
• Chittagong
• Cox's Bazaar