Cyclone Mocha is anticipated to hit Myanmar and Bangladesh on Sunday with gusts of 175km/h (108 mph), forcing many to flee. Storm is travelling north in Bay of Bengal. It is predicted to cross the shore between Sittwe in Myanmar’s northeastern Rakhine state and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Authorities warned of floods, landslides, and a storm surge of 2–2.7 meters (6.6–8.9 ft). “This is the first cyclone to threaten Myanmar this Monsoon season and there are grave concerns about the impact especially on already vulnerable and displaced communities,” UNOCHA warned in a Friday report. “Low-lying coastal areas susceptible to storm surge” house almost 230,000 Rakhine refugees, it said.
UNOCHA said six million people in Rakhine and the three northern states of Chin, Magway, and Sagaing needed humanitarian aid. Myanmar’s crisis began in February 2021 when the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration. In several of the storm-threatened locations, the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) have been fighting. Military aircraft bombardment and arson have displaced people. In 2017, the army forced hundreds of thousands of primarily Muslim Rohingya into Bangladeshi refugee camps. Bangladeshi authorities will utilize mosques and offices in such communities as storm shelters during storm Mocha. UNOCHA sent a team to Sittwe before the storm, and the International Federation of the Red Cross stated it was working with the Myanmar Red Cross to pre-position food and other needs and prepare rescue and relief equipment.
According to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar, military-appointed Rakhine authorities prepared for the storm. On Telegram, the United League of Arakan (ULA) Humanitarian and Development Coordination Office stated it was working with other groups to evacuate at-risk people to “safe areas”. The political wing of the Arakan Army, the ULA, administers two-thirds of Rakhine state. Cyclone Nargis killed around 130,000 in the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta south of Rakhine in 2008. The then-military administration needed foreign aid due to the destruction. Thant Zaw, who lost numerous family members in Cyclone Nargis, sought refuge in a monastery in Sittwe, the state capital. According to AFP, the 42-year-old ordered his family to refuge in the monastery. “I can’t lose my family again.”
