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☆ Myanmar Border Guards Flee to Bangladesh Amid Clashes With Rebels
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Ruma Paul and Sudipto GangulyDHAKA (Reuters) - At least 95 Myanmar border guards, some of them wounded, have fled to Bangladesh over the last few days as fighting intensifies between rebel forces in Myanmar and the junta regime, officials in Bangladesh said on Monday. Members of the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) entered Bangladesh with their weapons and 15 of them had bullet wounds when they crossed the border, Shariful Islam, a spokesman for Border Guard Bangladesh, said on Monday, adding that the wounded received treatment at different hospitals. Bullets and mortar shells from across the Myanmar border landed on Bangladesh territory on Monday, killing at least two people, a government official in Cox's Bazar said. Panic has gripped the refugee camps in Myanmar with many waiting to cross over to Bangladesh as supply chains have been cut off due to the ongoing conflict, according to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Some of the Rohingya Muslims want to flee here as they are living in constant fear without basic needs," Rohingya refugee Oli Hossain said.

Persons: Ruma Paul, Sudipto Ganguly, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Rahman, Mohammad Shamsud Douza, Oli Hossain, Nick Macfie Organizations: Sudipto Ganguly DHAKA, Myanmar Border Guard Police, Border Guard Bangladesh, Bangladesh Locations: Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bangladesh's, Cox's Bazar, Islam, Bandarban, Bazar

Rohingya traditionally take to sea in October, at the end of the rainy season, on journeys fraught with danger. Of 3,572 Rohingya who have left on 34 boats this year, 31% of them were children, data showed. In 2022, one of the deadliest years for the Rohingya at sea, a fifth of the about 3,705 people who fled were children. "Children making the boat journeys was not a trend before," said Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh's refugee relief and repatriation commissioner based in Cox's Bazar. With little hope of settling in Bangladesh or being accepted elsewhere, they feel they have no choice but to take to sea, Rahman said.

Persons: Riska, Chris Lewa, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Rahman, taka, Mohammed Taher, Ruma Paul, Sudipto Ganguly, Krishna N, Das, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Rights DHAKA, Malaysia, Thomson Locations: Sabang, Aceh province, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bangladeshi, Cox's Bazar, Arakan, Southeast Asia, Indonesia's Aceh, South Asia, Dhaka, Mumbai

☆ Hundreds of Rohingya come ashore in Indonesia, joining about 1,000 this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

During November to April, when the seas are calmer, many members of the persecuted minority leave Myanmar on rickety boats for Thailand, Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. Mitra Salima Suryono, a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency in Indonesia, said there did not appear to be any particular reason for the big number of Rohingya arriving. Mitra said Aceh villagers had tried to prevent hundreds of Rohingya arriving in the Bireuen area in northeast Sumatra last week although they eventually came ashore on Sunday. For years, Rohingya have left Buddhist-majority Myanmar where they are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse. Usman Hamid, the director of rights group Amnesty International Indonesia, called for authorities to take in the Rohingya and talk with neighbours, especially Malaysia and Thailand, where Rohingya also often stop.

Persons: Rohingya, Adek, Mitra Salima Suryono, Mitra, Usman Hamid, Stanley Widianto, Robert Birsel Organizations: Reuters, Indonesia's, Amnesty International, Thomson Locations: JAKARTA, Indonesia's Aceh, Myanmar, Thailand, Muslim, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sabang, Aceh, Sumatra, South Asia, Bangladeshi, Cox's Bazar, Amnesty International Indonesia

CNN —Rescue teams have found at least 17 bodies on Myanmar’s shores after a Rohingya boat capsized while on its way to Malaysia on Monday, officials told CNN. Among the dead were 10 women and seven men – all of whom were Rohingya Muslims, said Bya Latt, a spokesperson for the Shwe Yaung Matta Foundation rescue group. A Sittwe police official told CNN that the boat was transporting 58 people, including three boat drivers. “They were met with a storm in the sea and the boat sank under huge waves,” the official said, asking not to be identified. The perilous voyage from Cox’s Bazaar to Malaysia can take weeks, and conditions at sea are challenging, experts have noted.

Persons: –, Bya Latt, Shwe Yaung Matta, Latt Organizations: CNN — Rescue, CNN, Shwe Yaung, Shwe Yaung Matta Foundation Locations: Malaysia, Rakhine, Sittwe, Rathedaung, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar

CNN —Indian authorities have arrested three railway officials as part of an investigation into one of the deadliest train crashes in the country’s history. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in a statement that they had arrested three Department of Railways officials on Friday. The move follows the deaths of at least 275 people in a three-way crash involving two passenger trains and a freight train in eastern Odisha state on June 2. The railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has previously said the accident had occurred “due to a change in electronic interlocking” and that an investigation would show “who was responsible” for that. According to senior railway officials, the crash took place when the Coromandel Express, a high-speed train traveling from Kolkata to Chennai, was diverted onto a loop line and slammed into a heavy goods train idled at Bahanaga Bazar railway station.

Persons: ”, Narenda Modi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jaya Varma Sinha, Naveen Patnaik, Modi, Modi’s Organizations: CNN, Central Bureau of Investigation, of Railways, Indian, Howrah Locations: Odisha, Kolkata, Chennai, Bahanaga Bazar, Bangalore

MUMBAI, July 7 (Reuters) - India's federal police have arrested three railway employees on Friday in connection with the country's deadliest train crash in two decades that killed 292 people last month, the crime agency said in a statement. It is India's worst train crash in more than two decades. The accident happened when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped off the tracks and hit another passenger train coming from the opposite direction. Reuters reported earlier this week that workers repairing a rail-road barrier had made faulty connections in the automated signalling system on the network. The malfunctioning system directed the passenger train onto the path of the freight train, it said.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Krishn Kaushik, Jatindra, Shivam Patel, YP Rajesh, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, Reuters, of Railway Safety, CRS, Local, Indian Railways, Railway Board, Railways Ministry, YP, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Bahanaga Bazar, Odisha

Chief prosecutor Karim Khan visited Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, for four days this week to hear testimony from survivors of alleged genocide by Myanmar’s military against its Rohingya population. “There is heartbreak in these camps,” Khan said in an exclusive interview with CNN. Meanwhile, the Rohingya have been waiting six years and no such action has been taken against the Myanmar military leaders who ordered the attacks. “The big difference is that we have access to Ukraine, we don’t have access to Myanmar,” Khan said. Chief prosecutor Khan believed that Myanmar’s military leaders, including junta leader Min Aung Hlaing could be held to account.

Persons: Court’s, Karim Khan, ” Khan, ”, Vladimir Putin, Kutupalong, Ziabul Hossain, ICC’s Khan, Volker Türk, Khan, “, can’t, taka, Mohamed Rofique, Mohammad, Rofique, Min Aung, Slobodan Milošević, Charles Taylor, Jean Kambanda Organizations: CNN, ICC, Myanmar, Criminal, Getty, UN, Human, International Court of Justice, ICJ, Liberian, Rwandan Locations: Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Rakhine, Russia, Myanmar, Kutupalong Rohingya, Cox's Bazar, Tanbir Miraj, AFP, Gambia, Maungdaw, Rohingya, Bazar

BHUBANESWAR, India, July 4 (Reuters) - Workers repairing a rail-road barrier in India made faulty connections in the automated signalling system on the network, leading to the country's worst rail disaster in two decades, an official probe has found. The June 2 crash at Bahanaga Bazar station, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, killed 288 people and injured more than 1,000. The disaster struck when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped off the tracks and hit another passenger train coming from the opposite direction. The malfunctioning system directed the passenger train onto the path of the freight train, it said. Indian Railways, the fourth largest train network in the world, is a state monopoly run by the Railway Board.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Jatindra Dash, Krishn Kaushik, Sudipto Ganguly, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Workers, Reuters, of Railway Safety, CRS, Local, Railways, Railway Board, Railways Ministry, Thomson Locations: BHUBANESWAR, India, Bahanaga Bazar, Odisha, New Delhi, Mumbai

☆ How India’s deadly train accident affected poorest passengers the most
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

On the Howrah they were the farthest from the engine, and were hit by the derailed Coromandel Express carriages. Graphic shows the sequence of coaches behind the engine on the Coromandel Express and Howrah Superfast Express. On the Coromandel Express, the engine is closely followed by non-air conditioned coaches, including three unreserved coaches. Deaths and injuries in Indian railway accidents Graphic shows the number of deaths and injuries in Indian railway accidents annually since 2001. Drone footage shows aftermath of train crash in the Indian state of Odisha Drone footage shows aftermath of train crash in the Indian state of Odisha | ReutersThe site of the accident is rural.

Persons: Bahanaga, Sandeep Mathur, Long, Narendra Modi Organizations: Coromandel, Reuters, Indian Railways, Commission of Railway Safety, Railways, CRS, Superfast Express, Express, Railway Ministry Locations: Chennai, Odisha, Balasore, Indian, Kolkata, Bengaluru, India, Coromandel, Howrah, Bihar, Odisha’s Balasore

Indian and international media have previously reported that a possible malfunction in the automated signalling system may have led to the crash. However, details of the frequent malfunctions at the nearby rail-road barrier and its possible connection to a manual bypass of the signalling system are reported by Reuters for the first time. A spokesman for Indian Railways said "repair works keep happening as per requirements" but tampering with the automated system is not allowed. "(Indian) Railways believes the system was tampered with," said the second source, who has access to briefings on the investigation. The Indian Railways spokesman did not directly address the authorisation issue and only said it is not allowed under Indian Railways rules.

Persons: Amitabh Sharma, Sharma, Soubhagya Ranjan Sarangi, Narendra Modi's, Jaya Varma Sinha, Sinha, Sandeep Mathur, Mathur, Sudhanshu Mishra, Krishn Kaushik, Jatindra, Sarita Chaganti Singh, YP Rajesh, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Railways, Reuters, of Railway Safety, CRS, Railway Board, Railways Ministry, Indian Railways, police’s Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, Coromandel Express, Express, YP, Thomson Locations: India, DELHI, Bahanaga Bazar, Balasore, Odisha, Bahanaga, Niranjan, Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi

[1/7] A general view of the Bahanaga Bazar railway station, near the site of a train collision following the accident in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, India, June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Adnan AbidiBAHANAGA BAZAR, India, June 7 (Reuters) - Few trains stop at Bahanaga Bazar, the sleepy, small rural station in the Balasore district of Odisha state where India's deadliest train accident in more than two decades happened. "We never imagined we would witness a tragedy of such magnitude in our life time," Jasoda Nayak, a Bahanaga village council member, told Reuters. Several railway officials at Bahanaga Bazar declined to speak to Reuters about the accident as it was now the subject of a police investigation. While Balasore district is known for housing India's missile testing facility, most villagers in the area, which is less than 20 km (12 miles) from the Bay of Bengal coast, are farmers, fisherman or labourers.

Persons: Adnan Abidi BAHANAGA, Jasoda Nayak, Bhagwat Prasad Ratho, Mahesh Kumar Gupta, Krishn Kaushik, Miral Fahmy, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Police, Thomson Locations: Balasore district, Odisha, India, Adnan Abidi BAHANAGA BAZAR, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Bengal

☆ India train crash: Devastating scenes of despair after one of the worst train crashes the country has ever seen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Ivan Watson Kunal Sehgal Deepak Rao Rhea Mogul | Ivan Watson | Kunal Sehgal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Some of the coaches rolled to the other side,” the 32-year-old restaurant worker told CNN from a hospital in India’s eastern Odisha state. Their story is just one of hundreds unfolding across the country as India deals with one of the worst train crashes it has ever seen. Doctors confer as they attend to survivors of a train accident in a hospital in Balasore, India, on June 4, 2023. A drone view shows derailed coaches after two passenger trains collided in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, India, June 3, 2023. In 2011, scores were killed when a train jumped tracks in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Persons: CNN — Manto Kumar, “, ’, Punit Paranjpe, “ I’ve, I’ve, Laluti Devi, ”, Abhishek Chinnappa, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Laxminaranyan, Stringer, Reuters Anushuman Purohi, ” Vaishnaw, Rafiq Maqbool, Narendra Modi, Modi’s, Vaishnaw, Kumar Organizations: CNN, Express, Getty, Mojo, India’s, Government Medical College, Howrah, Reuters, Sunday, Indian, Crime Records, AP Railways, Central Bureau of Investigation, Authorities Locations: India’s, Odisha, India, Balasore, AFP, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Kolkata, Bahanaga Bazar, Bangalore, Tamil Nadu, Balasore district, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh

Workers toiled over the weekend to clear the wreck and restore the mangled tracks. The authorities allowed some stranded trains, limited to a speed of about six miles an hour, to run past the site on Monday, though two affected side lines remained inactive. The suspended train service had hindered families of the victims from traveling to the town of the crash, Balasore in Odisha State, and claiming their loved ones. Some had arrived via special train services, others in cars on Monday morning provided by their local governments. Still more were making the grim journey, and officials said that the focus now was formally identifying the last of the victims.

Organizations: Workers Locations: Odisha State

Bahanaga Bahanaga Bazar rail station Site of initial impact Coromandel Express passenger train Freight train carrying iron ore Bahanaga Bahanaga Bazar rail station Site of initial impact Coromandel Express passenger train Freight train carrying iron ore Bahanaga Bahanaga Bazar rail station Site of initial impact Freight train carrying iron ore Coromandel Express passenger train The New York Times; aerial drone image via ReutersInvestigators of the deadly multi-train crash in India have focused on the possibility that it was caused by an electronic signal system failure. 1 Two passenger trains approach◀ South to Chennai North to Kolkata ▶ Other freight train Second passenger train Coromandel Express Freight train with iron ore ◀ South to Chennai North to Kolkata ▶ Other freight train Second passenger train Coromandel Express Freight train with iron oreAt around 7 p.m. local time, the Coromandel Express passenger train approached from the north at a speed of about 80 miles per hour. 2 Coromandel Express veers onto occupied trackOther freight train Second passenger train (exact position unknown) Possible signal system failure Coromandel Express Freight train with iron ore Second passenger train (exact position unknown) Other freight train Coromandel Express Possible signal system failure Freight train with iron oreThe Coromandel Express veered onto an adjacent track occupied by an idled freight train that was loaded with iron ore. An Indian Railways official said that a problem with the signal system was most likely the overall cause of the crash, though investigations were still underway. 3 First passenger train collides with freight trainOther freight train Second passenger train (exact position unknown) Coromandel Express Freight train with iron ore Collision Second passenger train (exact position unknown) Other freight train Coromandel Express Freight train with Iron ore CollisionThe Coromandel Express collides with the freight train. 4 Second passenger train is hitOther freight train Second passenger train Freight train with iron ore Derailed cars strike second passenger train Coromandel Express Other freight train Freight train with Iron ore Derailed cars strike second passenger trainThe derailed cars from the Coromandel Express strike the second passenger train as it passes, causing two cars at the end of the second passenger train to derail.

Organizations: New York Times, Reuters Investigators, Coromandel, Indian Railways, Coromandel Express Locations: India, Chennai North, Kolkata, Howrah, Coromandel

The other passenger train was a Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express train, running from a commuter hub in Bangalore to Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal. India’s railway minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that he had ordered an investigation into the cause and that those affected by the crash would receive compensation. Site of the train crash An initial government report said that the Coromandel Express passenger train derailed while traveling at full speed. Dozens of trains had been canceled but crews were rushing to restore service after pushing off the train cars involved in the crash off the tracks. In 2016, 14 train cars derailed in India’s northeast in the middle of the night, killing more than 140 passengers and injuring 200 others.

Persons: Ashwini Vaishnaw, Derailments, Jitendra Prakash, Narendra Modi, Modi, Modi’s, Amit Dave, Suresh Prabhu, Mr, Vaishnaw, Mujib Mashal Organizations: Chennai Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway, Express, Coromandel, INDIA, Sunday, Economic, Disaster Management, Reuters Rail Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha State, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, India’s, Howrah, Bangalore, Kolkata, West Bengal, Bahanaga Bazar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s, Bihar, Pukhrayan, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad

A second passenger train, heading in the opposite direction, then struck some of the dislocated cars. More than 2,200 passengers in all were onboard the passenger trains, according to railway officials, and at least 23 cars were derailed. The other passenger train was a Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express train, running from a commuter hub in the southern city of Bengaluru to Kolkata, the capital of the northeastern state of West Bengal. Site of the train crash An initial government report said that the Coromandel Express passenger train derailed while traveling at full speed. In 2016, 14 train cars derailed in India’s northeast in the middle of the night, killing more than 140 passengers and injuring 200 others.

Persons: Ashwini Vaishnaw, Vaishnaw, Derailments, Jitendra Prakash, Narendra Modi, Modi, Modi’s, Amit Dave, Suresh Prabhu, Mr, Mujib Mashal Organizations: Chennai Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway, Express, Coromandel, INDIA, Economic, Disaster Management, Reuters Rail Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha State, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, India’s, Howrah, Bengaluru, Kolkata, West Bengal, Odisha, Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s, Bihar, Pukhrayan, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad

Rescue workers gather around damaged carriages during search for survivors at the accident site on Saturday. With the rail routes still blocked, family members of deceased passengers are having to find their way by other means to the crash site, to help identify the dead. India’s extensive rail network, one of the largest in the world, was built more than 160 years ago under British colonial rule. Decaying infrastructure is often cited as a cause for traffic delays and numerous train accidents in India. An ambitious National Rail Plan, announced in 2021, envisages that all major cities in north, west and south India should be connected by high-speed rail.

Persons: –, Ashwini Vaishnaw, ”, Dibyangshu Sarkar, Jaya Varma Sinha, ” Sinha, Mansukh Mandaviya, Mandaviya, Naveen Patnaik, Patnaik, “, Narenda Modi, Narendra Modi, Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Fumio Kishida, Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis, Modi, Modi’s, Albright Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Howrah, Bangalore . Rescue, Getty, Jaya, India’s Health, Sunday, Odisha’s, Public Relations Department, Indian, Rapid, Force, British, United Nations, National Crime Records, Group, Rail Plan, Bharat Locations: New Delhi, London, Hong Kong, Balasore, Odisha, Indian, Kolkata, Chennai, Bazar, Bangalore, AFP, Tamil Nadu, Russian, India, Jammu, Kashmir

☆ India Train Crash Live Updates: Relatives Identify Crash Victims as Modi Visits Derailment Site
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Sameer Yasir | Mujib Mashal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

The other passenger train was a Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express train, running from a commuter hub in Bangalore to Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal. India’s railway minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that he had ordered an investigation into the cause and that those affected by the crash would receive compensation. Site of the train crash An initial government report said that the Coromandel Express passenger train derailed while traveling at full speed. In 2016, 14 train cars derailed in India’s northeast in the middle of the night, killing more than 140 passengers and injuring 200 others. Within hours of Friday’s disaster, some opposition politicians were already calling for the resignation of Mr. Vaishnaw, India’s railway minister.

Persons: Ashwini Vaishnaw, Derailments, Jitendra Prakash, Narendra Modi, Modi, Modi’s, Amit Dave, Suresh Prabhu, Mr, Vaishnaw, Mujib Mashal Organizations: Chennai Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway, Express, Coromandel, INDIA, Economic, Disaster Management, Reuters Rail Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha State, Shalimar, Chennai Coromandel, India’s, Howrah, Bangalore, Kolkata, West Bengal, Bahanaga Bazar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s, Odisha, Bihar, Pukhrayan, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad

More than 280 people were killed and over 1,100 injured in a three-way crash involving two passenger trains and a freight train in eastern Odisha state on Friday, officials said. BJP4India/TwitterThe cause of Friday’s crash remains unclear, but senior state railway officials told CNN that it is suspected to have been caused by a traffic signaling failure. Video footage and photographs from the crash site near Bahanaga Bazar rail station showed scenes of chaos and despair. An official overseas rescue efforts at the site of the train crash in Balasore. An aerial view of the derailed coaches in Balasore.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Modi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, ” Modi, “, “ It’s, Sudhanshu Sarangi, “ We’ve, Piyal Adhikary, Anshuman Purohit, ” Rohit Raj, Dibyangshu Sarkar, ”, Narendra Singh Bundela, ” Bundela, Stringer, Rafiq Maqbool, AP Modi, Shehbaz Sharif, Rishi Sunak, Ursula von der Leyen, Fumio Kishida Organizations: India CNN — Indian, Bharat, CNN, Chennai Coromandel, Passengers, NDTV, Getty, Response Force, Reuters, National Crime Records, Western, AP, Force, Rapid Action Force, Soro Block, “, British, EU, Japan’s Locations: Bhubaneswar, India, Odisha, Balasore, Shalimar, Chennai, Yesvantpur, Howrah, Bahanaga Bazar, AFP, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Mumbai, country’s Jammu, Kashmir, Soro

☆ Cyclone Mocha tears into Myanmar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Cyclone Mocha barrels into Myanmar The powerful storm unleashes its fury, disrupting communications in the regionAround midday on Sunday, Cyclone Mocha pummelled western Myanmar and southern Bangladesh. Map shows the path of Cyclone Mocha. It originated in the Bay of Bengal three days before it hit the coast of Myanmar on May 14. Satellite images show Sittwe before and after landfall of Cyclone Mocha, in Myanmar. Myanmar’s coast bore the brunt of the storm surge from Mocha, according to data from the EU’s Joint Research Centre.

☆ Cyclone Mocha: Early reports of 'extensive damage' as storm hits the Myanmar coast
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Video from the conflict-racked Rakhine state showed powerful gusts of wind blowing trees to the ground. “But early reports suggest the damage is extensive and needs among already vulnerable communities, particularly displaced people, will be high. A resident drives his motorbike past fallen utility poles in Kyauktaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on May 15, 2023, after Cyclone Mocha crashed ashore. However, torrential rain battered Rakhine state in western Myanmar, bringing threats of flooding and landslides. According to the United Nations, roughly 15,000 homes were destroyed in Rakhine state during the storm.

CNN —Western Myanmar is being battered by strong winds and heavy rain after Cyclone Mocha made landfall on the Bay of Bengal coastline Sunday. Local residents check the damages after Cyclone Mocha's crashed ashore in Kyauktaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on May 14, 2023. Two children stand under a roadside shelter to protect from rain before Cyclone Mocha hits in Sittwe, Rakhine State, on Sunday, May 14, 2023. APTropical Cyclone Mocha has intensified to the equivalent of a category 5 Atlantic hurricane. Most live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters perched on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to strong winds, rain, and landslides.

☆ Powerful cyclone barrels towards Myanmar, Bangladesh; 400,000 evacuated
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Ruma Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

But many more could suffer as the storm moves inland from the Bay of Bengal, the United Nations Satellite Centre has warned. "People at risk are in the process of being transferred to safe shelters and we are also arranging relief packages," said Farah Kabir of ActionAid Bangladesh. Most refugees live in makeshift dwellings in the densely packed camps after having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. "We have arranged for meals in co-operation with local residents but if this becomes long-term, there will be more problems." About 6 million people are already in need of humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million are displaced in Rakhine and the northwest, OCHA says.

Since forming in the Bay of Bengal early Thursday, tropical Cyclone Mocha has intensified to a high-end Category 4 Atlantic hurricane, with sustained winds of 240kph (150mph). Tropical cyclones (also known as hurricanes, typhoons and tropical storms depending on ocean basin and intensity), feed off ocean heat. They need temperatures of at least around 27 degrees Celsius (80 Fahrenheit Fahrenheit) to form, and the warmer the ocean, the more moisture they can take up. The waters in the Bay of Bengal are currently around 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit Fahrenheit), about 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than average for May. Climate-change fueled sea-level rise adds to the risks, worsening storm surges from tropical cyclones and allowing them to travel further inland.

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