Cyclone Mocha: urgent funding needed in Myanmar and Bangladesh as hunger, diseases loom

As a clearer picture emerges of the trail of destruction left by Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar and Bangladesh, humanitarians have continued to strive to bring life-saving assistance and call for urgent funding.

In Myanmar, the UN appealed on Tuesday for $333 million to assist 1.6 million of the most vulnerable people, many of whom have lost their homes as the cyclone hit the west of the country over a week ago.

The UN’s top aid official in the country, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, told reporters in Geneva that the disaster had left hundreds of thousands without a roof over their heads as the monsoon looms.

Among the priorities is providing people with safe shelter and preventing the outbreak and spread of water-borne diseases.

With coastal winds recorded at up to 250 kilometres per hour making landfall off the Bay of Bengal on 14 May, Mocha brought flooding and landslides to an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of people already displaced by the protracted conflict in Myanmar, many of them the Rohingya minority of Rakhine state.

The UN appeal requests an “urgent injection” of funds to support those in the highest impact zone across Rakhine, Chin, Magway, Sagaing and Kachin states.

Speaking via Zoom from Yangon, Mr. Balakrishnan, who is the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar, said that the 1.6 million people identified for support under the new funding appeal include “people who have lost their homes, people who lack access to health services and clean water, people who are food insecure or malnourished, displaced people in camps, stateless people, women, children and people with disabilities”.

“Those affected are facing a long, miserable monsoon season if we cannot mobilize resources in time,” he warned.

Mr. Balakrishnan also gave reporters a glimpse of the experience of internally displaced people, or IDPs, in the capital of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Sittwe. He recounted that an IDP from a camp in Sittwe told his colleagues that his shelter was destroyed while his family took refuge at an evacuation site at the height of the storm.

“Those who stayed had faced a horrible experience as the camp was submerged in water from the storm surge,” the UN aid official said, before insisting on the need for medical care, clean water and food, as well as support to rebuild shelters.

Hundreds of humanitarian personnel are on the ground in Rakhine state, already providing food aid, shelter, water and hygiene items “wherever they have access”, while mobile health teams have been supporting people on the ground, Mr. Balakrishnan said, with plans for additional urgent aid distribution in the most affected areas.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, the UN is appealing for $42 million to support the cyclone response, including $36 million for Rohingya refugees living in camps in the affected areas. Gwyn Lewis, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh speaking from Dhaka via Zoom, told reporters that more than 400,000 people in the country were impacted and 40,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps saw their homes – most often temporary bamboo structures – destroyed or damaged.

Ms. Lewis stressed that the cyclone came on the heels of food ration cuts for refugees and a devastating fire in March, in which 16,000 had lost their homes. Adding to the refugees’ hardship, she said that lack of funding is forcing the UN to cut their food rations for a second time as of 1 June. “This means that the Rohingya refugees will receive only 67 per cent of the needed food rations, so one million people will only be getting about two-thirds of the needed food,” she added.

Thankfully, the Government of Bangladesh acted quickly upon the cyclone warnings, Ms. Lewis said, and evacuated some 700,000 people from Mocha’s path, which helped save countless lives. She expressed hope that new funding will allow to rebuild the homes of the Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh with more weather-resistant materials and improve resilience.

STORY: Cyclone Mocha Appeal - OCHA

TRT: 2’31”

SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH, NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RELEASE DATE: 23 May 2023
FORMAT: HYBRID PRESS BRIEFING
DATELINE: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST

1. Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
2. Cutaway: wide shot, speaker behind podium at the press conference, UN Geneva.
3. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ramanathan Balakrishnan, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. for Myanmar: “The disaster has left hundreds of thousands of already vulnerable communities without a roof over their heads as the monsoon looms. The humanitarian community is now in a race against time to provide people with safe shelter in all affected communities and prevent the outbreak and spread of water-borne diseases.”
4. Cutaway: medium shot, screen showing speakers; journalists in the foreground at the press conference, UN Geneva.
5. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ramanathan Balakrishnan, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. for Myanmar: “The 1.6 million people identified for support under this appeal include people who have lost their homes, people who lack access to health services and clean water, people who are food insecure or malnourished, displaced people in camps, stateless people, women, children and people with disabilities. Those affected are facing a long, miserable monsoon season if we cannot mobilize resources in time.”
6. Cutaway: close shot, journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
7. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ramanathan Balakrishnan, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. for Myanmar: “One internally displaced person from the Sittwe camp told our colleagues in Rakhine that his shelter was destroyed while his family took refuge at an evacuation site at the height of the storm. He reported that those who stayed had faced a horrible experience as the camp was submerged in water from the storm surge. He told us that the IDPs need medical care, clean water and food, as well as support to rebuild their shelters.”
8. Cutaway: medium lateral shot, journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
9. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Gwyn Lewis, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh: “More than 400,000 Bangladeshis were impacted by the cyclone and the homes of 40,000 refugees were completely destroyed or damaged.”
10. Cutaway: close lateral shot, journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
11. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Gwyn Lewis, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh: “Cyclone Mocha comes at the heels of food ration cuts and a devastating fire in March, where 16,000 refugees lost their homes. Due to funding shortages, we are going to be forced to cut food rations for a second time as of 1 June. This means that the Rohingya refugees will receive only 67 per cent of the needed food rations, so 1 million people will only be getting about two thirds of the needed food.”
12. Various cutaways of journalists and speakers in the press conference room.