Myanmar and Bangladesh begin cleaning up, counting casualties after devastating Cyclone Mocha

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Recovery efforts are underway in Myanmar and Bangladesh after a powerful cyclone smashed into their coastlines, causing widespread destruction and at least 21 deaths, with hundreds of others believed missing. Myanmar took the brunt of Cyclone Mocha on Sunday, while Bangladesh was spared a feared catastrophe. Many of the dead and missing had been living in ramshackle displacement camps for members of the Muslim Rohingya minority who lost their homes in a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign led by Myanmar security forces. The storm also damaged the central city of Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was Myanmar’s capital 10 centuries ago.