Global Courant 2023-05-13 09:08:37
Fear for the safety of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in the path of a potentially devastating storm.
Thousands of people in Myanmar and Bangladesh are preparing to evacuate ahead of Cyclone Mocha, which is expected to bring winds of up to 175 kph (108 mph) when it makes landfall on Sunday.
The storm is currently in the Bay of Bengal moving northward. It is expected to cross the coast between Sittwe in Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine state and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.
Authorities have warned of the danger of flooding, landslides and a storm surge of between 2 and 2.7 meters (6.6 feet to 8.9 feet).
“This is the first cyclone to threaten Myanmar this monsoon season and there are serious concerns about the impact, especially on already vulnerable and displaced communities,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a statement Friday. update. It noted that more than 230,000 people in Rakhine live in displaced persons camps “in low-lying coastal areas prone to storm surges”.
About six million people in areas in the storm’s path — Rakhine and the three northwestern states of Chin, Magway and Sagaing — were already in need of humanitarian assistance, UNOCHA added.
With information as of this morning, May 13, 2023, 00:30 Myanmar Time, Cyclone Mocha’s forecast map has been updated. It’s now available on MIMU’s dedicated page, along with other resources. pic.twitter.com/CJqXmAWjvr
— MIMU (@the_MIMU) May 13, 2023
Myanmar plunged into crisis in February 2021 when the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Many of the areas now threatened by the storm see fighting between the military and civilian armed groups known as the People’s Defense Forces (PDF). People have already been driven from their homes due to aerial bombardments and arson attacks by the military.
The army used similar tactics in Rakhine in 2017 when it drove hundreds of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh, where they still live in sprawling refugee camps.
Those settlements are also vulnerable to Cyclone Mocha and Bangladeshi authorities have said that both mosques and offices in the camps will be used as cyclone shelters.
UNOCHA said it had sent a team to Sittwe ahead of the storm, while the International Federation of the Red Cross said it was working with the Myanmar Red Cross to prepare food and other supplies and provide rescue and relief equipment for to prepare.
Army-appointed officials in Rakhine were also preparing for the storm, according to reports in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.
Myanmar authorities warn people of threat from Cyclone Mocha (courtesy of IFRC)
On Telegram, meanwhile, the Humanitarian and Development Coordination Office of the United League of Arakan (ULA) said it is working with other organizations to move those at risk to “safe areas”. The ULA, the political wing of the Arakan army, claims administrative control of about two-thirds of Rakhine state.
In 2008, more than 130,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis swept across the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta south of Rakhine. The extent of the destruction was so great that the then military government was forced to call for international aid.
Thant Zaw said he had lost several relatives in Cyclone Nargis and decided to take shelter in a monastery in Sittwe, the state capital.
“I told my family to take shelter in this monastery,” the 42-year-old told AFP news agency.
“I have six kids and I can’t lose my family again.”
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