Hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar and Bangladesh will be evacuated on Saturday because of Cyclone Mocha. The tropical storm is likely to make landfall on Sunday and can reach a speed of 175 kilometers per hour.
The storm is still in the Bay of Bengal, in the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, but will move further north. The cyclone is expected to head towards the Myanmar state of Rakhine and the Bengali city of Cox’s Bazar, among others.
Local authorities have previously warned of imminent flooding, landslides and a storm surge of between 2 and 2.7 meters. Mocha would also pose a major threat to more than 230,000 people living in refugee camps in Rakhine.
“This is the first cyclone of this monsoon season to threaten Myanmar,” said UN disaster agency OCHA. “There are serious concerns about the impact, especially on already vulnerable and displaced communities.”
About 500,000 people are being evacuated in Bangladesh. There too, the tropical storm threatens to hit vulnerable people. They are mainly located in Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Mostly Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar live there.
According to local authorities, a thousand people have already been evacuated from Cox’s Bazar. Another eight thousand people still have to leave the city on Saturday and be brought to safety.
2023-05-13 10:45:17
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