145 people killed by Cyclone Mocha in Arakan State: regime

By Admin 20 May 2023

DMG Newsroom
20 May 2023, Sittwe

Cyclone Mocha had claimed the lives of a confirmed 145 people in Arakan State as of noon on May 19, Myanmar’s military regime announced on Friday.

Among the victims were 24 Arakanese people, 117 Muslims and four junta soldiers, with the majority of casualties reported in Sittwe, Rathedaung and Ponnagyun townships.

A total of 1,156,796 people were affected by the cyclone and accompnaying flooding in Arakan State, with financial losses totalling nearly K4.7 billion, the junta’s Arakan State Administration Council said on Friday.

Authorities are surveying property damage, but have not yet delivered any relief supplies, said Ma Nu Nu from Kone Tan Ward in hard-hit Sittwe.

“My house was almost completely destroyed. Only beams were left. I am currently taking shelter at a monastery. Food prices have soared, and we are going hungry. And we have not yet received any assistance,” she said.

Many buildings including homes, schools, hospitals and government buildings were destroyed by Cyclone Mocha that hit Arakan State, which made landfall near Sittwe on May 14.

Almost all the houses were destroyed by Cyclone Mocha at the Wah Taung displacement camp in Kyauktaw, said displaced villager Ma Hla Oo.

“All the buildings were destroyed by the storm. We need food. We have to live off supplies provided by WFP [World Food Programme]. So, we have a lot of difficulties,” she said.

Many displacement camps in Arakan State were badly damaged by the cyclone, with the need for temporary shelter considered a top priority in the slow-to-unfold response.

More than 90 percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed in Sittwe, Rathedaung and Ponnagyun townships, and property damage was also reported in other townships, according to junta-controlled media.

Nationwide, “According to the [junta’s] investigation until 19 May noon, a total of 183,024 houses, 1,711 religious buildings, 59 monasteries, 1,397 schools, 227 hospitals and clinics, 11 telecom towers, 119 lamp posts, five transformers, one market, two airport buildings and 340 departmental buildings were destroyed in respective regions and states,” the regime mouthpiece Global New Light of Myanmar reported.