Thousands of Rohingya refugees in Myanmar in path of cyclone
Cyclone Mahasen threatens to smash into region where thousands are in temporary shelters
Myanmar started moving people into emergency shelters as a cyclone threatened to batter a violence-wracked region home to tens of thousands of internal refugees.
About 140,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in flimsy tents or makeshift housing are seen as particularly vulnerable to Cyclone Mahasen, which was gathering strength in the Bay of Bengal.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall near the Myanmese-Bangladeshi border on Thursday morning, according to Myanmar's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.
It said Mahasen, packing winds of up to 100km/h, was likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm.
The IDPs at particular risk are mostly stateless Rohingya Muslims uprooted by two outbreaks of deadly religious violence since June last year.
"There are people still living in temporary tents. Now we are moving as many of those IDPs as we can to stronger permanent shelters," said Myo Thant, a spokesman for the Rakhine state government.