Pope Francis called on Sunday for local authorities to facilitate access for humanitarian organizations to areas affected by the deadly cyclone Mocha that hit parts of Burma and part of Bangladesh two weeks ago.
“I appeal to those who are responsible to facilitate access to humanitarian aid,” the pope said at the end of the Angelus prayer at the Vatican.
“I appeal to the sense of human and ecclesiastical solidarity to go to the aid of these brothers and sisters,” added the Argentine pope.
Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar and Bangladesh on May 14 with 120 mph winds flattening buildings and torrential rains turning streets into rivers.
The UN on Wednesday appealed to Burma’s ruling military junta to facilitate the arrival of vital aid for some 800,000 people estimated to be in need of food and other emergency aid.
Myanmar’s governing junta, which reported 148 deaths from the cyclone, declared a state of disaster in Rakhine state after Mocha passed.
This area in the west of the country is home to hundreds of thousands of people belonging to the Rohingya minority, a Muslim group discriminated against and persecuted in Burma.