GENEVA: The United Nations on Wednesday called for Myanmar to open up and ensure life-saving aid can reach all parts of the country being severely hit by the devastating Cyclone Mocha.
UN rights chief Volker Turk urged the country’s military rulers to allow needs assessments to go ahead as the Southeast Asian nation needs to recover from the impact of the deadly cyclone.
On May 14, the devastating Mocha cyclone brought lashing rain and winds of about 195 kilometers (120 miles) per hour to Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh, flooding the streets into rivers and collapsing buildings.
While addressing a press conference in Geneva, Volker Turk maintained that the damage and loss of life were both avoidable and foreseeable– and was linked with the systematic denial of human rights.
“It is imperative that the military lift the blockages on travel, allow for needs assessments to happen, and ensure access to and delivery of life-saving aid and services.”
According to official figures, 148 people have died, mostly from the persecuted Rohingya minority in western Rakhine state. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are living in Rakhine in displacement camps with despair due to decades of ethnic conflict.
Turk added that the authorities in Myanmar had deprived the people of Rohingya of their rights and freedoms for decades, along with other ethnic groups with threats of survival to them.
Myanmar Deny Aid Agencies to Assist Victims of Cyclone Mocha
Turk recalled that people from Rohingya communities had been confined in temporary bamboo structures, mostly since 2012, with Myanmar’s military repeatedly avoiding requests from humanitarian agencies to assist them and make the area less prone to flooding.
Turk said that he observed the situation during his many trips to Myanmar, especially in the east adding that the authorities consistently barred the Rohingya from moving freely, including in the days before the deadly cyclone.
Meanwhile, the United Nations on Tuesday launched an appeal for $333 million in emergency funding for about 1.6 million people being affected by the devastating Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar.
