UNICEF is particularly concerned about children and families who were already displaced and living in precarious conditions before the bad weather struck – this includes some 74,000 Rohingya refugees who recently crossed into Bangladesh and were sheltering in an area badly affected by Cyclone Mora, and 120,000 displaced people in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. “We must move quickly to ensure that services and supplies are in place to keep children safe and to stem the spread of communicable diseases like diarrhea, cholera or respiratory infections.”

“Children who have had their lives upended by brutal storms, severe flooding and landslides, are now threatened by a lack of safe drinking water, inadequate hygiene services and limited access to healthcare,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes. Devastation wrought by Cyclone Mora in Myanmar and Bangladesh, and torrential monsoon rains across Sri Lanka have left children homeless and in need of protection, nutrition and health services.

NEW YORK/BANGKOK/KATHMANDU, 1 June 2017 – At least 1.3 million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance across the Bay of Bengal region following severe weather over the past six days, UNICEF has warned. UNICEF ramps up aid delivery for children and families affected by severe weather in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar

+1 child specials fallout shelter