Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 13th May. World Meteorological Organization on Friday said that the communities across Bangladesh and Myanmar, bracing for Cyclone Mocha, which is expected to hit the region by the weekend.
WMO said that the very severe cyclonic storm is 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.
The agency’s regional specialized meteorological centre in New Delhi forecast that Mocha would move towards coastal Bangladesh and Myanmar.
It said that the storm would intensify until landfall, between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar by midday Sunday.
The agency noted that 1 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.
According to IOM, cyclone Mocha is headed straight for the camps in Bangladesh.
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.
WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said that the agency has 40 ambulances and 33 mobile medical teams on standby at Cox’s Bazar.
Olga Sarrado, spokesperson for the UNHCR said that it has prepositioned some 230 tons of dry food and 24.5 tons of fortified biscuits, as aid agencies stand ready to provide 50,000 daily hot meals, if needed.
“We fear the impact of the storm with significant rainfall with landslides and flooding of camps near the sea,” she said.
“Access to the camps may be impeded, while power supplies and mobile phone towers might be damaged.”
The agency is carrying out emergency preparedness in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and on the island of Bhasan Char, working with local authorities and its humanitarian partners.
The agencies stressed that thay are ready with shelter materials as tarpaulin, rope, and floor mats along with 11 million aqua tabs, 60,000 jerrycans, and 300,000 soaps. Some 50 to 100 patients are being relocated to a hospital in Cox’s Bazar, while most other patients have been sent home.
The agency is working with the Bhasan Char authorities to ensure humanitarian partners and sectors remain alert and that refugees are kept informed.
Over 1,000 volunteers, six medical teams, and two ambulances on standby, preparations include 53 cyclone shelters and food provisions for the 30,000 Rohingya refugees living on the island, for 15 days.
Jens Laerke, the UN humanitarian agency said local communities in Myanmar were urgently preparing for the cyclone’s arrival. Myanmar’s humanitarian emergency response preparedness plan had been activated nationwide earlier this week.
He said that humanitarian organizations in Rakhine, had pre-positioned personnel and supplies.
Across Rakhine and the northwest, six million people need humanitarian assistance, and 1.2 million people are displaced,.
OCHA is working to ensure that responders would have timely and unimpeded access to those in need he said.
Jens Laerke cautioned that the $764 million UN humanitarian response plan for Myanmar was only 10 per cent funded.
WHO said that 500,000 inter-agency emergency health kits and 500,000 water purification tablets had been mobilized to Myanmar’s Ministry of Health Central Medical Storage Department.
IOM warned that extreme weather hazards will occur more frequently due to climate change in the years ahead.
“The linkages between climate change, migration, and displacement are increasingly pressing worldwide,” the agency said.
It called on governments to implement sustainable climate adaptation, preparedness, and disaster risk reduction measures to avert, mitigate, and address displacement linked to climate disasters and strengthen people’s resilience.
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