Bangladesh’s coastal regions bore the brunt of Cyclone Yaas, with tens of thousands of people left homeless and hundreds of homes, roads, crops and fish farms destroyed. 

Around 2,570 homes alone on the southeast coast of Cox's Bazar district were damaged, the district administration said Thursday.

But Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char island were not seriously affected due to precautionary measures by the government and support from UN agencies, said officials.

More than 150,000 people became stranded, 20 kilometers (12 miles) of embankment areas were damaged and over 3,000 hectares of shrimp enclosures were flooded and hundreds of homes damaged due to the effects of the cyclone on the coastal southwestern district of Satkhira.

The cyclone battered Bangladesh on Wednesday, affecting at least 27 subdistricts of nine southern coastal districts, according to the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry.

“Embankments around villages were damaged due to Cyclone Yaas. Hundreds of homes and crops were submerged in saltwater while roads and communication infrastructure have been destroyed,” Bachchu Shekh, a resident of the affected coastal area, told Anadolu Agency.

“Overflowing tides were strengthened by surrounding rivers and entered localities Thursday due to the cyclone. We were submerged and affected with untold suffering here in the coastal regions,” he added.

“Some shelters were destroyed at refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. However, no major destruction or any casualties have been reported so far at the refugee camps. We are yet to assess the losses and damage and will hold a meeting to determine those,” Mohammad Shamsud Douza of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission told Anadolu Agency.

People affected in these areas have been trying to repair the damaged embankments, dams and roads to save livelihoods and belongings while the government assured that it will extend all-out support.

Shrimp enclosures and coastal forests including mangroves and the Sundarbans were also affected by the cyclone, while four deer were also found dead. Official committees have been formed to determine the losses and damage in the country.

In Cox's Bazar, local authorities and aid agencies are responding as needed in the Rohingya refugee camps amid reports of damage to shelters, latrines and water points due to bad weather in the past few days, said Syed Md Tafhim, national communications officer at the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) for the Rohingya response in Cox’s Bazar.

According to an incident report of the ISCG on May 26, six toilets and six water points were partially damaged while 75 shelters were destroyed, but no cases of dead or missing were reported in the 32 refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar./aa