Businesses in the Arakan State capital Sittwe that need ice are facing difficulties as ice plants there were damaged by Cyclone Mocha, which hit the state with destructive force on May 14.

The Arakan State Agricultural Development Bank will help storm-hit farmers upon request, according to manager U Ba Kyaw Sein.

A resident of Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township jailed on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA) was released from Sittwe Prison on Tuesday after completing his sentence.

The fishing village along the coast of the Bay of Bengal is home to around 2,000 people. Nearly 420 houses out of about 450 in the village were destroyed by Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall over Arakan State on May 14.

With the rainy season setting in, people affected by Cyclone Mocha in Arakan State are having difficulties rebuilding their damaged homes due to a scarcity of bamboo.

A fire at a local bazaar in Dar Paing Muslim Village, part of Arakan State’s Sittwe Township, on Monday engulfed 12 stalls, according to stall owners.

One bag of djenkol beans produced in Arakan State was K50,000 in the past, but one bag of djenkol beans from Yangon is selling for K120,000, said Daw Aye Kyawt, a fruit vendor in Sittwe’s Myoma Market.

“We sell rice for Arakan people who are having a hard time due to the storm. We are selling without taking any profit. We only sell to consumers and not to retailers,”

Cases of diarrhoea are on the rise in Arakan State townships such as Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung and Maungdaw.

The shutdown of oil wells in Mandalay, Magway and Sagaing regions has left more than 300,000 people jobless, according to local businessmen involved in the industry.

The Brotherhood Alliance has welcomed the establishment of the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC), calling the council a new step forward in the revolution against the Myanmar military.

A letter dated June 11 and purportedly signed by Arakan State Minister of Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura has circulated online that local and international nongovernmental organisations providing relief items in Arakan State have been allowed to resume operations.

Out of 1,538 public schools damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Mocha in Arakan State, 375 schools have been repaired, according to a statement released by the Arakan State military council.

The man died after being electrocuted while repairing an electricity fault damaged by Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe’s Kontan Ward.

Chinese authorities have put off the date for auctioning off agricultural products seized from Myanmar exporters, according to Mandalay-based merchants.

“The smell has negative impacts on local residents. Some of my family members have hypertension and heart disease.

“Arakanese people have been in trouble due to armed conflicts. The junta is worried that relief items will reach the AA. 

Some 50 ethnic Kaman high students from Kaman Village in Arakan State’s Sittwe Township still can’t enrol at schools in Sittwe town, according to their parents.

The FPNCC and UWSA contributed K500 million each to Deputy Chief of the Arakan Army Dr. Nyo Twan Awng in Pansang for storm victims in Arakan State, Cyclone Mocha ERRA said in the statement.