When Cyclone Mocha makes landfall on Sunday, it is to bring winds as fast as 175km an hour (108 mph). And as a result, thousands of people in Myanmar and Bangladesh are preparing to evacuate
The storm is currently in the Bay of Bengal and moving northwards. It is to cross the coast between Sittwe in Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine state and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh
About six million people in areas in the path of the storm. Rakhine and the three northwestern states of Chin, Magway and Sagaing. These were already in need of humanitarian assistance, UNOCHA added.
Myanmar was plunged into crisis in February 2021 when the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Fighting between the military and civilian armed groups known as the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) has raged in many areas now threatened by the storm. People have already forced out of their homes due to aerial bombardment and arson attacks by the military.
The army used similar tactics in Rakhine in 2017, driving hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh. They continue living in sprawling refugee camps.
Those settlements are also vulnerable to Cyclone Mocha, and Bangladeshi authorities said mosques and offices in the camps would use as cyclone shelters.
UNOCHA said it had deployed a team to Sittwe before the storm. In contrast, the International Federation of the Red Cross said it was working with the Myanmar Red Cross to pre-position food and other essentials and prepare rescue and relief equipment.
According to reports in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar. Military-appointed officials in Rakhine were also preparing for the storm.
