UN agencies spent Friday buckling down with communities across Bangladesh and Myanmar, bracing for Cyclone Mocha, which is expected to hit the region by the weekend.
The very severe cyclonic storm is quickly strengthening in the Bay of Bengal, threatening the region with violent winds, flooding, and landslides that could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable people, said Clare Nullis, of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The agency’s regional specialized meteorological centre in New Delhi forecast that Mocha would move towards coastal Bangladesh and Myanmar. The storm would further intensify until landfall, between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar by midday Sunday.
Nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps are preparing for the worst. In 2022, they escaped devastation from the Bay of Bengal cyclone Sitrang, which nonetheless killed 35 people, displaced over 20,000, and caused over $35 million in damages in other parts of the country.
Right now, Cyclone Mocha is headed straight for the camps in Bangladesh, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Speaking from Cox’s Bazar, the agency’s deputy chief of mission, Nihan Erdogan, said Bangladesh has a “massive” preparedness plan in place, of which IOM is a partner.
“We have trained 100 refugee volunteers in each camp on cyclone preparedness and the flag warning system in 17 IOM-managed camps,” she said. “Emergency shelter materials and hygiene kits are readily available, and personal protective gear has been provided to all volunteers”.
“We have to alert and assist our fellow community members so they are prepared to respond and protect themselves and others should the weather conditions worsen when the cyclone reaches our camps,” said one of the refugee volunteers, who are disseminating awareness-raising messages and responding to community requests around the clock.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has at the ready 40 ambulances and 33 mobile medical teams on standby at Cox’s Bazar, agency’s spokesperson Margaret Harris said.