As the strongest storm in almost 20 years barreled into Bangladesh and neighbouring Myanmar, authorities there started on Saturday to relocate Rohingya refugees from “risky areas” to community centres as hundreds evacuated an island.
Meteorological officials in Dhaka classified Cyclone Mocha as “very severe,” but their Indian colleagues described it as “extremely severe” because it was packing gusts of up to 175 kilometres per hour (109 miles per hour).
Between Cox’s Bazar, where almost a million Rohingya refugees reside in camps mostly made up of flimsy shelters, and Sittwe on Myanmar’s western Rakhine coast, it is anticipated to make ashore on Sunday morning.