Cyclone Mocha Approaches the Coasts of Bangladesh and Myanmar, Threatening Refugees

A powerful storm with wind speeds of 175 kilometers per hour is heading towards the eastern coasts of Bangladesh and Myanmar today, Saturday, threatening around one million Rohingya refugees and others in low-lying areas. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department indicated in a bulletin that "Cyclone Mocha, after gathering strength in the Bay of Bengal for several days, will intensify and make landfall in the region between Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar tomorrow, Sunday." The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs predicted that "Mocha, classified as a severe cyclonic storm, will carve a path through Rakhine State in Myanmar and the northwestern region of Myanmar, where six million people are in need of humanitarian assistance alongside 1.2 million displaced persons." In Cox's Bazar, a border area in southeastern Bangladesh, more than one million Rohingya refugees live, most of whom fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. Since the military council seized power two years ago, Myanmar has been in chaos, with a resistance movement fighting against the army on multiple fronts after it launched a bloody crackdown on protests.