Situation overview
The Severe Cyclonic Storm Mocha made landfall on 14 May 2023 at approximately 12:30pm-1:30pm local time over the Northwestern Rakhine State of Myanmar with maximum sustained winds about 250 km/h, and gusts even of higher speed.
Mocha weakened and moved further northeast to adjacent Chin State, Sagaing region, Mandalay, Kachin and Shan States. Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) Myanmar has further forecasted widespread rain and thundershowers in Naypyitaw, Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, Bago, Yangon, Ayeyarwady Regions and Kachin, Shan, Chin, Rakhine States and fairly widespread in Taninthayi Region.
Impacts on the ground
- The exposed townships of Rakhine State have faced the brunt of impacts of extreme wind pressure, surge, heavy rainfall, and subsequent flooding.
- At least six human deaths have been reported.
- Early reports indicated that Sittwe township was flooded, connectivity was lost for some time and communication was seriously disrupted.
- The Myanmar Myawaddy Channel announced that cyclone Mocha had damaged 864 homes nationwide, 588 of which were in Rakhine. Nearly 90% percent of the houses in the town of Kyauktaw were destroyed. At least 3 internally displaced persons (IDP) camps with 1,500+ people were affected.
- Storm surge reported to be from 2.5-3.5 metres and inundated low-lying areas of Rakhine.
- Sittwe city has been flooded in many places. Many people are confined to their homes due to the wind, storm surge, rising water, and heavy rainfall.
- Telecommunication towers have suffered extensive damages, limiting communications, with some areas reporting zero connectivity.
- Power lines were knocked down in many places and trees uprooted due to wind pressure.
- Early reports indicate significant damage to houses and other infrastructure in Sittwe and Gwa townships, including roofs being torn off homes.
- Actual numbers of casualties, injuries, and damages are yet to be released officially.
Response efforts
- Defacto Disaster Management operations by the State Disaster Management were enacted under coordination of the Myanmar Department of Disaster Management (DDM).
- The Humanitarian Emergency Response Plan was activated. However, due to the existing restrictions, the international humanitarian community worked through the Rakhine cluster coordination, and the State Disaster Management’s approvals.
- For Rakhine preparedness, a planning scenario for 200,000 individuals was adopted.
- UNOSAT estimated that over 16 million people may get affected by Mocha and among them, over 1.7 million people may fall into >120 km/h wind speed pathway of Mocha.
- Approximately 140,000 people were considered for evacuation and all other community members were guided to take available shelter options locally, which includes designated primary shelters, secondary shelters, strong building structures such as monasteries, government offices, schools and other places available locally.
- The local community and volunteers have been engaged to ensure that affected communities know how to keep themselves safe. People locally extended peer to peer support for preparedness, safety and emergency actions on the ground.
- Aid organisations have prepositioned stocks and personnel to ensure immediate response but the supply may be well short of the demand on the ground.
- The existing Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan (2023) is less than 10% funded as yet. On top of this the Cyclone Mocha impacts would require additional humanitarian funds which would comprise international and national entities and networks.
BRAC’s Humanitarian Actions for Myanmar
- Special instructions of Do’s and Don’ts were circulated along with other local guidance on cyclone preparedness in BRAC Myanmar operation areas in Sagaing region.
- BRAC Myanmar is attending cluster and NGO coordination meetings on a regular basis.
- National and sub-national inter-cluster coordination meetings are scheduled to take place soon to elevate response interventions.
- BRAC International Humanitarian Program (BIHP) is maintaining coordination with BRAC Myanmar to ensure support and guidance on a continuous basis.
Regular coordination between BIHP and BRAC Myanmar will continue in the next days and throughout the disaster response and early recovery stages.
