Thousands evacuated as Cyclone Mocha approaches Myanmar, Bangladesh

Thousands of people fled the west coast of Myanmar and officials in Bangladesh's neighbouring areas raced to evacuate the Rohingyas on Saturday as the region's most powerful cyclone in a decade churned across the Bay of Bengal.

According to India's meteorological office, Cyclone Mocha was packing winds, at a speed of 220 kilometres per hour (136 miles per hour), similar to a category four hurricane.

The cyclone is expected to weaken before it makes landfall between Cox's Bazar and Sittwe, which is on Myanmar's western Rakhine coast on Saturday.

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More than a million Rohingya refugees have been living in flimsy shelters in Cox's Bazar after they fled from Myanmar.

On Saturday, the residents of Sittwe piled possessions as well as their pets onto trucks, cars, and tuk-tuks and moved for higher ground, as per AFP reporters.

"We have our grandma in our family and we have to take care of her," Khine Min said to AFP while standing beside a truck filled with his relatives on a road in the state capital.

"There is only one man left in Sittwe to take care of our homes,” Min added.

In the town of around 150,000 people, shops and markets were shuttered and many locals sought shelter in monasteries.

Kyaw Tin, aged 40, said that he was not able to evacuate the area as his son was admitted to the local hospital. "I hope this cyclone won't come to our state. But if this happens we can't ignore it," he stated.

"I'm worried that this cyclone will affect our state just like Nargis did," he further stated, while referring to a 2008 storm in which more than 130,000 people were killed in southern Myanmar.

The junta authorities of Myanmar were supervising people's evacuations from villages along the country's Rakhine coast, reported state media on Friday.

Myanmar Airways International said that they have suspended all flights bound for Rakhine state until Monday.

The officials in neighbouring Bangladesh took steps to evacuate Rohingya refugees from "risky areas" to community centres, as hundreds of citizens fled a top resort island.

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"Cyclone Mocha is the most powerful storm since Cyclone Sidr," Azizur Rahman, the head of Bangladesh's Meteorological Department, said.

In November 2007, Cyclone Sidr had hit the southern coast of Bangladesh, which took the lives of more than 3,000 people and caused damage worth billions of dollars.

The government authorities in Bangladesh have banned the Rohingya from building permanent concrete homes as they fear it may incentivise them to permanently settle in the region and not return to Myanmar.

(With inputs from agencies)

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