Cyclone "Mocha" Isolates Rakhine State in Myanmar

A ethnic armed group and a relief worker reported on Monday that "one of the strongest storms to hit Myanmar in recent years has disrupted communications in impoverished Rakhine State, making it difficult to assess the extent of the damage." Khine Thaw Kha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, which controls large areas of Rakhine, stated: "All communications are still cut off and people are stranded because all the roofs have collapsed." Additionally, Benjamin Small, an advisor to the United Nations Development Programme, mentioned that "it is hard to determine the extent of the damage due to the communication blackout in Rakhine." Digital rights activist Htaik Htaik Ong noted the "internet outage, which is a significant concern as it hinders efforts to reach people." Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar's western coast coming from the Bay of Bengal late Sunday afternoon, largely avoiding more than a million refugees in makeshift camps in neighboring Bangladesh, but it flooded the city of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, and knocked down at least one communications tower.