Cyclone Mocha makes landfall in Myanmar; region braces for disaster

Authorities and international organizations had preparing for days for Cyclone Mocha’s arrival in the region. It first hit Rakhine state in southwest Myanmar, with winds of up to 130 mph near Sittwe township, the Associated Press reported, citing the country’s meteorological department.

Cities and towns on the northern coast of Myanmar and southeastern coast of Bangladesh were experiencing heavy to extremely heavy downpours and winds of up to 100 mph Sunday afternoon, according to India’s Meteorological Department. Unverified social media videos showed devastating wind gusts ripping tin roofs off homes and toppling a communication tower.

Titon Mitra, a representative of the U.N. Development Program in Myanmar, tweeted Sunday that 2 million people were “at risk” because of the storm. “Damage and losses are expected to be extensive,” he added.

Some signs on Sunday indicated Cyclone Mocha could be less damaging than the most extreme predictions feared.

India’s Meteorological Department said the system was “weakening” and would transform from a “extremely severe cyclonic storm” to a “very severe cyclonic storm” at some point in the afternoon. And meteorological authorities said the risks facing Bangladesh had “reduced to a great extent” after the storm appeared to veer from the country and toward northeast Myanmar, the AP reported.

Local media outlets reported injuries and some deaths in surrounding areas in Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Washington Post could not independently verify the reports.

Still, officials were braced for what recovery will take. Some 6 million people were already in need of humanitarian assistance in the four areas of Myanmar expected to be most impacted by the storm. Rakhine, Chin, Magway and Sagaing are home to about 1.2 million displaced people, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency.

Some 300,000 people in Bangladesh had been evacuated ahead of the storm as of noon on Sunday, local authorities said. The figure excludes Rohingya refugees, who have been moved to safer places within camps.

Myanmar’s junta government said that more than 78,000 people had been moved in Rakhine state and nearby areas as of Saturday. (A major militia in Rakhine, where there has been a long-standing insurgency, told local reporters that about 100,000 residents were moved in recent days.)

Aid agencies working in the southeastern Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, home to Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee encampment, prepared shelter materials and health-care supplies and warned of devastating consequences for refugees living in flimsy bamboo homes.

Shortly after noon, the weather had turned choppy in Teknaf, outside Cox’s Bazar. Wind and rain gathered speed as trees convulsed.

“Trees and tin roofs of the houses are being blown away. But there is no tidal surge yet,” Nurul Haque, who lives on St. Martin’s Island, said by phone. The island of some 10,000 people was forecast to be in the cyclone’s path.

As the cyclone continued “to move inland,” the Myanmar office of the U.N. humanitarian agency said that wind was “uprooting trees” and causing damage in some areas.

The U.N. refugee agency has stockpiled supplies of dry food, and relief agencies can provide 50,000 hot meals daily if needed, it said in a statement. The World Health Organization has ambulances and mobile medical teams on standby in the area.

In Myanmar, the World Food Program has prepared food supplies to cover the needs of more than 400,000 people in Rakhine state and neighboring areas for a month, the agency said in a statement.

Rohingya refugees brave perilous seas to escape camp desperation

The areas impacted are “burdened by conflict, poverty, and weak community resilience,” said Sheela Matthew, WFP’s deputy director for Myanmar.

“They simply cannot afford another disaster,” she added.

Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar in 2008, killed nearly 85,000 people and displaced many more.

Experts say climate change is probably making tropical cyclones more intense globally.

Azad Majumder in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mohammad Faruque in Teknaf, Bangladesh, and Cape Diamond in Yangon, Myanmar, contributed to this report.