Bangkok (AP) — At least 54 people were killed and more than 185,000 buildings damaged in Myanmar by a powerful cyclone last weekend, state television MRTV reported Thursday.

Communication difficulties in the affected areas, where infrastructure was already poor, and the military government’s tight control over information leave the actual extent of casualties and destruction unclear.

Cyclone Mocha roared in from the Bay of Bengal on Sunday with high winds and rain slamming a corner of neighboring Bangladesh and a wider swath of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state. It made landfall near Rakhine’s Sittwe township with winds of up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour before weakening to a tropical depression Monday as it moved inland.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said widescale destruction of homes and infrastructure was seen throughout Rakhine state.

“Urgent needs include shelter, clean water, food assistance and healthcare services,” it said. “There are rising concerns in flooded areas about the spread of waterborne disease and the movement of landmines,” a legacy of civil conflict that has been going on in Myanmar for decades.

“The impact of the cyclone was also felt heavily in the country’s northwest where houses were blown or washed away. Strong winds and rains have also damaged camps for displaced people in Kachin state,” the U.N. agency said.

Three Indian navy ships carrying relief material reached Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, on Thursday and a fourth ship will arrive Friday, said India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Yangon is south of the cyclone-hit area and has a major international port.

“The ships are carrying emergency food items, tents, essential medicines, water pumps, portable generators, clothes, sanitary and hygiene items,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

India has been the first responder to climate-related disasters in the region.

Refugee camps in Bangladesh, where more than 700,000 members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority fled in 2017 to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, missed the brunt of the storm with no reported deaths, thanks in part to a well-organized evacuation, but housing was severely damaged.

Many of the Rohingya who stayed in Myanmar after being made homeless by the 2017 attacks by security forces were settled in crowded displacement camps on the outskirts of Sittwe, where their ramshackle housing on low-lying land was reportedly swept away by the storm surge.

There are fears that there could be many fatalities in the Sittwe camps, but independent confirmation is difficult because of post-storm conditions and long-standing government restrictions meant to isolate the camps.

“Bridges have collapsed to the west of downtown Sittwe following #CycloneMocha, leaving only one access route to camps in the area,” Ben Small, who works for the U.N. Development Program in Myanmar, said on Twitter. “This further hinders humanitarian access. They urgently need repairing.”

A Rohingya who does relief work at one of the camps said by phone Thursday that they were instructed by the authorities not to provide information to the media.

Rakhine state spokesperson and attorney general Hla Thein issued a qualified denial of reports that hundreds of people had died, saying that only 46 deaths in the state had been confirmed so far, from other ethnic groups as well as the Rohingya. He said confirmation of further deaths would require investigations, including inspections of burial places.

Hla Thein said the authorities had warned people in the camps to move to safer places days before the storm hit, but some stayed until seawater poured in, wreaking destruction. He said the government was trying to send relief supplies to affected areas and there were no restrictions on relief organizations in sending aid, an assertion that could not immediately be confirmed.

A leader of a local charity group helping to collect data about casualties inside the Rohingya camps and nearby villages said Thursday that the bodies of at least 116 people from 15 camps and villages, including 32 children and 46 women, had been given burial rites.

He requested that neither he nor his organization be identified because of possible punishment by the authorities.

The charity worker said reports of higher death tolls may have resulted from misunderstandings due to communication breakdowns which also prevented the authorities from getting an accurate count.

The Associated Press could not independently confirm any of the casualty figures.

Myanmar took the brunt of Cyclone Mocha on Sunday, while Bangladesh was spared a feared catastrophe.

Residents of Myanmar’s Rakhine state worked to repair the damage and mourn the dead. Areas further inland also suffered damage, including the central city of Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was Myanmar’s capital 10 centuries ago.

Mocha made landfall near Sittwe township in Rakhine state with winds of up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour on Sunday afternoon, weakening to a tropical depression by midday Monday. The storm, the nation’s most destructive in a decade, brought widespread flash floods and power outages, while high winds tore roofs off buildings and crumpled cellphone towers.

Myanmar state-run television MRTV said Tuesday that 21 people were killed and 11,532 houses, 73 religious buildings, 47 monasteries, 163 schools, 29 hospitals and clinics and 112 government buildings were damaged.

Independent media said hundreds more people were believed missing. Many of those reported dead or unaccounted for had been living in ramshackle displacement camps that were reportedly heavily damaged by the storm surge.

The camps house members of the Muslim Rohingya minority who lost their homes in a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign led by Myanmar security forces. Aid agency presence is spotty and help from the country’s military government negligible.

It is difficult to confirm the extent of casualties and damage because telecommunication facilities in the area were damaged by the storm’s high winds. Information is hard to obtain even in normal times because the military restricts the media.

Sahat Khasin, a Rohingya who does relief work at one of the camps, said by phone he helped bury 11 bodies at a Muslim cemetery near Sittwe, Rakhine’s state capital on the Bay of Bengal.

He said the authorities warned people in the camps to evacuate to safer places in advance of the cyclone’s arrival, but some waited until seawater began pouring in.

Video from Sittwe on Tuesday showed extensive damage to buildings as well as uprooted trees and fallen power lines.

Heavy rain in Bagan, the ancient city that is one of Myanmar’s major tourist attractions, caused flooding that weakened the foundations of at least four temples. MRTV reported that the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, visited Tuesday to inspect the damage,

The government issued disaster declarations for 17 townships in Rakhine and four in Chin state, north of Rahkine, where hundreds of buildings were reported damaged.

Rohingya are not recognized as an official minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they face widespread discrimination and are denied citizenship and other basic rights. People living in the camps cannot move freely, according to human rights groups.

More than 700,000 other Rohingya fled the 2017 violence to live in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, which also suffered damage from the cyclone but reported no deaths.

At the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar were moved to safer areas until Cyclone Mocha passed. The low-lying area is especially vulnerable to flooding, with relatively few secure shelters available.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said more than 700,000 people were moved to cyclone shelters or makeshift facilities including schools and mosques

“While the storm didn’t directly hit refugee settlements, as feared, it caused major damage,” Alexia Riviere, emergency coordinator in Bangladesh for Catholic Relief Services, a major aid agency, said in a statement. “The needs will likely be great as we assess the destruction. Our concerns in the wake of the storm include landslides and flash flooding.”

Riviere described Cyclone Mocha as one of the largest storms to strike Bangladesh in decades, noting that Cyclone Sidr in 2007 killed more than 3,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.

“As an aid community, we have to face the fact that marginalized communities are becoming more vulnerable each year,” Riviere said. “The more we can do to prepare for the inevitable, the better.”

Dhaka (AP) — Rescuers on Monday evacuated about 1,000 people trapped by seawater 3.6 meters (12 feet) deep along western Myanmar’s coast after a powerful cyclone injured hundreds and cut off communications. Six deaths were reported, but the true impact was not yet clear in one of Asia’s least developed countries.

Strong winds injured more than 700 of about 20,000 people who were sheltering in sturdier buildings on the highlands of Sittwe township, such as monasteries, pagodas and schools, according to a leader of the Rakhine Youths Philanthropic Association in Sittwe. He asked not to be named due to fear of reprisals from the authorities in the military-run country.

Seawater raced into more than 10 low-lying wards near the shore as Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Rakhine state Sunday afternoon, he said. Residents moved to roofs and higher floors, while the wind and storm surge prevented immediate rescue.

“After 4 p.m. yesterday, the storm weakened a bit, but the water did not fall back. Most of them sat on the roof and at the high places of their houses the whole night. The wind blew all night,” the rescue group leader said.

Water was still about 1.5 meters (5 feet) high in flooded areas later Monday, but rescues were being made as the wind calmed and the sun rose in the sky. He asked civil society organizations and authorities to send aid and help evacuate residents.

Six deaths were reported by Myanmar media and rescue groups. Several injuries were reported in neighboring Bangladesh, which was spared the predicted direct hit.

Mocha made landfall near Sittwe township with winds blowing up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said. By midday Monday, it had weakened to a tropical depression, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The State Administration Council issued disaster declarations for 17 townships in Rakhine state.

High winds crumpled cell phone towers, but in videos collected by local media before communications were lost, deep water raced through streets and wind blew off roofs.

Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses and electrical transformers in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. It said roofs were torn off buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425 kilometers (264 miles) southwest of the country’s largest city, Yangon.

Volunteers previously said shelters in Sittwe did not have enough food after more people arrived there seeking help.

Mocha largely spared the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, which initially had been in the storm’s predicted path. Authorities had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people before the cyclone veered east.

A Bangladesh government official, Enamur Rahman, said the damage was still being assessed, but that about 2,000 homes had been destroyed and 10,000 others were damaged on Saint Martin’s Island and Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar district.

He said no deaths were reported.

About a dozen people were injured on Saint Martin’s Island, the Prothom Alo newspaper reported.

U.N. agencies and aid workers in Bangladesh had prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances in the refugee camps that house more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days. Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation.

“As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.

Tropical cyclones, which are called hurricanes or typhoons in other regions, are among the world’s most devastating natural disasters when they hit densely populated coastal areas.

Dhaka (AP) — Rescuers on Monday evacuated about 1,000 people trapped by seawater 3.6 meters (12 feet) deep along western Myanmar’s coast after a powerful cyclone injured hundreds and cut off communications. Six deaths were reported, but the true impact was not yet clear in one of Asia’s least developed countries.

Strong winds injured more than 700 of about 20,000 people who were sheltering in sturdier buildings on the highlands of Sittwe township, such as monasteries, pagodas and schools, according to a leader of the Rakhine Youths Philanthropic Association in Sittwe. He asked not to be named due to fear of reprisals from the authorities in the military-run country.

Seawater raced into more than 10 low-lying wards near the shore as Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Rakhine state Sunday afternoon, he said. Residents moved to roofs and higher floors, while the wind and storm surge prevented immediate rescue.

“After 4 p.m. yesterday, the storm weakened a bit, but the water did not fall back. Most of them sat on the roof and at the high places of their houses the whole night. The wind blew all night,” the rescue group leader said.

Water was still about 1.5 meters (5 feet) high in flooded areas later Monday, but rescues were being made as the wind calmed and the sun rose in the sky. He asked civil society organizations and authorities to send aid and help evacuate residents.

Six deaths were reported by Myanmar media and rescue groups. Several injuries were reported in neighboring Bangladesh, which was spared the predicted direct hit.

Mocha made landfall near Sittwe township with winds blowing up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said. By midday Monday, it had weakened to a tropical depression, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The State Administration Council issued disaster declarations for 17 townships in Rakhine state.

High winds crumpled cell phone towers, but in videos collected by local media before communications were lost, deep water raced through streets and wind blew off roofs.

Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses and electrical transformers in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. It said roofs were torn off buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425 kilometers (264 miles) southwest of the country’s largest city, Yangon.

Volunteers previously said shelters in Sittwe did not have enough food after more people arrived there seeking help.

Mocha largely spared the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, which initially had been in the storm’s predicted path. Authorities had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people before the cyclone veered east.

A Bangladesh government official, Enamur Rahman, said the damage was still being assessed, but that about 2,000 homes had been destroyed and 10,000 others were damaged on Saint Martin’s Island and Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar district.

He said no deaths were reported.

About a dozen people were injured on Saint Martin’s Island, the Prothom Alo newspaper reported.

U.N. agencies and aid workers in Bangladesh had prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances in the refugee camps that house more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days. Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation.

“As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.

Tropical cyclones, which are called hurricanes or typhoons in other regions, are among the world’s most devastating natural disasters when they hit densely populated coastal areas.

At least three deaths were reported in Myanmar, and several injuries were reported in neighboring Bangladesh, which was spared the predicted direct hit.

Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Myanmar’s Rakhine state near Sittwe township in the afternoon with winds blowing up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said. By Monday morning, it was downgraded from its severe status and was steadily weakening over land, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear. High winds crumpled cell phone towers during the day, cutting off communications. And independent information is hard to gather under Myanmar’s military-run government.

In videos collected by local media before communications were lost, deep water raced through streets while wind lashed trees and pulled boards off roofs. Rakhine-based media reported streets were flooded and people were trapped in homes in low-lying areas.

Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses, electrical transformers, cell phone towers, boats and lampposts in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. It said roofs were torn off buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425 kilometers (264 miles) southwest of the country’s largest city, Yangon.

More than 4,000 of Sittwe’s 300,000 residents were evacuated to other cities and more than 20,000 people were sheltering in sturdy buildings such as monasteries, pagodas and schools on the city’s highlands, said Tin Nyein Oo, who is volunteering in shelters in Sittwe.

Lin Lin, the chairman of a local charitable foundation, said there was not enough food in the shelters in Sittwe after more people arrived than expected.

Titon Mitra, the U.N. Development Program representative in Myanmar, tweeted: “Mocha has made landfall. 2m people at risk. Damage and losses are expected to be extensive. We are ready to respond and will need unhindered access to all affected communities.”

Myanmar state television reported that the military government is preparing to send food, medicine and medical personnel to the storm-hit area. After battering Rakhine, the weakening cyclone was forecast to hit the northwestern state of Chin and the central regions on Monday.

At least three deaths were reported in Myanmar. A rescue team from eastern Shan state said on Facebook that they had recovered the bodies of a couple who were buried when a landslide hit their house in Tachileik township. Local media reported a man was crushed to death when a banyan tree fell on him in Pyin Oo Lwin township in the central Mandalay region.

Mocha largely spared the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, which initially had been in the storm’s predicted path. Authorities had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people before the cyclone veered east.

“The level of risk has reduced to a great extent in our Bangladesh,” Azizur Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department in Dhaka, told reporters.

A feared storm surge from the Bay of Bengal did not materialize because the cyclone started crossing Bangladesh’s coast at low tide, Dhaka-based Jamuna TV station reported.

About a dozen people were injured on Bangladesh’s Saint Martin’s Island, while some 300 homes were either destroyed or damaged, leading Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported.

U.N. agencies and aid workers in Bangladesh had prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances in the refugee camps that house more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days. Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation.

“As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.

Tropical cyclones, which are called hurricanes or typhoons in other regions, are among the world’s most devastating natural disasters when they hit densely populated coastal areas.

The center of Cyclone Mocha made landfall Sunday afternoon in Myanmar’s Rakhine state near Sittwe township wind speeds up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said. The storm previously passed over Bangladesh’s Saint Martin’s Island, causing damage and injuring people, but turned away from the country’s shores before landfall.

As night fell, the extent of the damage in Sittwe was not clear. Earlier in the day, high winds crumpled cell phone towers, cutting off communications in much of the area.

Rakhine-based media reported that streets were flooded, trapping people in low-lying areas in their homes as worried relatives outside the township appealed for rescue.

Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses, electrical transformers, cell phone towers, boats and lampposts in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. It said the storm also tore roofs off of sport buildings on the Coco Islands, about 425 kilometers (264 miles) southwest of the country’s largest city, Yangon.

More than 4,000 of Sittwe’s 300,000 residents were evacuated to other cities and more than 20,000 people are sheltering in sturdy buildings such as monasteries, pagodas and schools located on the city’s highlands, said Tin Nyein Oo, who is volunteering in shelters in Sittwe.

Lin Lin, the chairman of a local charitable foundation, said there was not enough food in the shelters in Sittwe after more people arrived than expected.

Titon Mitra, the U.N. Development Program representative in Myanmar, tweeted: “Mocha has made landfall. 2m people at risk. Damage and losses are expected to be extensive. We are ready to respond and will need unhindered access to all affected communities.”

On Sunday morning, several deaths caused by wind and rain were reported in Myanmar. A rescue team from the country’s eastern Shan state announced on its Facebook social media page that they had recovered the bodies of a couple who were buried when a landslide caused by heavy rain hit their house in Tachileik township. Local media reported that a man was crushed to death when a banyan tree fell on him in Pyin Oo Lwin township in the central Mandalay Region.

Authorities in the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, which lay in the storm’s predicted path, said earlier that they had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people, but by early afternoon it appeared that the storm would mostly miss the country as it veered east, said Azizur Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department in Dhaka.

“The level of risk has reduced to a great extent in our Bangladesh,” he told reporters.

Strong winds accompanied by rains continued in the Saint Martin’s Island in the Bay of Bengal in the afternoon, but feared tidal surges did not take place because the cyclone started crossing Bangladesh coast at low tide, Dhaka-based Jamuna TV station reported.

About a dozen islanders were injured, while some 300 homes were either destroyed or damaged, leading Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported. One woman was critically wounded, it said.

U.N. agencies and aid workers in Bangladesh had prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances with mobile medical teams in sprawling refugee camps that house more than 1 million Rohingya who fled persecution in Myanmar.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River Delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days. Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation.

“As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.

Cyclones, giant storms similar to those known as hurricanes or typhoons in other parts of the world, are among the world’s most devastating natural disasters, especially when they hit densely populated coastal regions.

Dhaka (AP) — Bangladesh and Myanmar were bracing Sunday as an extremely severe cyclone was set to hit their coastal areas, and authorities told thousands of people in both countries to seek shelter.

U.N. agencies and aid workers prepositioned tons of dry food and dozens of ambulances with mobile medical teams in sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh with more than 1 million Rohingya who fled persecution in Myanmar.

The camps at Cox’s Bazar are in the path of Cyclone Mocha, which was closing in on the coast of southeastern Bangladesh and Myanmar with wind speeds of up to 220 kilometers (135 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 240 kph (150 mph), the Indian Meteorological Department said late Saturday. It’s projected to make landfall between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar.

Bangladesh, with more than 160 million people, has prepared more than 1,500 cyclone shelters. The navy said it’s keeping ready 21 ships, maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters for rescue and relief operations.

In Myanmar, rains and winds were picking up since Friday and prompted more than 10,000 people in villages around Sittwe in Rakhine state to seek shelter in sturdy buildings including monasteries, temples and schools, said Lin Lin, the chairman of the Myittar Yaung Chi charity foundation.

“Currently, about 20 places have been arranged for people to stay in Sittwe. But because there were more people than we expected, there was not enough food for the next day. We are still trying to get it,” he said.

Speaking from Cox’s Bazar across the border in Bangladesh, the International Organization of Migration’s deputy chief of mission, Nihan Erdogan, said Bangladesh put in place a massive preparedness plan.

He said his agency had trained 100 volunteers in each of the 17 refugee camps on how to alert rescuers using flag warning signals when heavy rains, floods and strong winds lash the region. “Emergency shelter materials and hygiene kits are readily available, and personal protective gear has been provided to all volunteers.”

The World Health Organization put 40 ambulances and 33 mobile medical teams on standby at Cox’s Bazar, the agency’s spokesperson Margaret Harris said.

Authorities in Bangladesh said heavy rains from the cyclone could trigger landslides in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar and three other hilly districts — Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari.

Bangladesh, which is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, issued the highest danger signal for Cox’s Bazar. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department warned the cyclone could cause severe damage to the lives and properties in eight coastal districts.

Mizanur Rahman, director general of the Department of the Disaster Management, said they asked the local authorities in 20 districts and sub-districts to make swift preparations. He said they were particularly concerned about a small coral island called Saint Martins in the Bay of Bengal, where efforts were underway to protect thousands of inhabitants.

Myanmar said in its weather bulletin that the cyclone was moving toward the coast of Rakhine state near Sittwe, which was put under the highest weather alert.

The World Food Program said it prepositioned enough food to cover the needs of more than 400,000 people in Rakhine and neighboring areas for one month.

“We are preparing for the worst, while hoping for the best. Cyclone Mocha is heading to areas burdened by conflict, poverty, and weak community resilience,” said WFP’s Myanmar deputy director, Sheela Matthew. “Many of the people most likely to be affected are already reliant on regular humanitarian assistance from WFP. They simply cannot afford another disaster.”

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River Delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Friday that thousands of people living along the western coast of Rakhine state were evacuated.

Both Indian and Bangladesh authorities said they were expecting heavy to very heavy rainfall in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Andaman Sea, parts of India’s remote northeast, and across Bangladesh from Saturday night.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days, such as Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020, which continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation. “As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period,” Koll said.

Cyclones are among the most devastating natural disasters in the world, especially if they affect densely populated coastal regions in South Asia.

After brewing in the Bay of Bengal for days, Cyclone Mocha is likely to intensify further and make landfall between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar on Sunday, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said in a bulletin.

Cox’s Bazar, a southeastern border district, is where more than a million Rohingya refugees live, most having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

Mocha – categorised as a very severe cyclonic storm – is expected to cut a path through Myanmar’s Rakhine and northwestern region, where six million people need humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million are displaced, the U.N. humanitarian office said.

Since a junta seized power two years ago, Myanmar has been plunged into chaos and a resistance movement is fighting the military on multiple fronts after a bloody crackdown on protests.

A spokesperson for the Myanmar junta did not respond to a phone call.

“We are focusing on saving lives,” said Mohammad Shamsud Douza, a Bangladesh government official responsible for refugees. “People who are at risk of landslides will be evacuated.”

Thousands of trained community workers and volunteers had already been deployed, alongside medical and rescue personnel who are on stand-by, he said.

In Myanmar, the World Food Programme said it was preparing food and relief supplies that could help more than 400,000 people in Rakhine and surrounding areas for a month.

Some people in Rakhine’s capital Sittwe were either leaving their homes to seek shelter on higher ground or moving further inland, a resident said.

“Everyone is trying to leave town since yesterday afternoon,” the 20-year-old said, asking not to be named, “Not many people remain in my street, just my family.”