Cyclone Hamoon (IO062023) has intensified much more rapidly than forecast and is now only a few hours from landfall on the Bangladeshi coast. While not an especially strong storm, the storm is now expected to make a direct hit on the largest refugee camp in the world, near Cox’s Bazar …
There are over one million people living in the camps, refugees from the ongoing civil war in Myanmar (link to article on caps). Needless to say, they are extremely vulnerable to severe weather, living in bamboo and tarp based shelters that will disintegrate in any significant wind or heavy rain, both of which are expected in the next 24 hours. As you can imagine, basic sanitation is lacking and diseases periodically sweep through the camps.
With all the attention on other conflict zones such as the Middle East and the former Soviet Union, this is an ongoing forgotten tragedy that is about to get worse – probably mostly out of the view of the Western media.