The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
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
- Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Cutaway: wide shot, speaker behind podium at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- 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.”
- Cutaway: medium shot, screen showing speakers; journalists in the foreground at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- 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.”
- Cutaway: close shot, journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- 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.”
- Cutaway: medium lateral shot, journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- 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.”
- Cutaway: close lateral shot, journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- 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.”
- Various cutaways of journalists and speakers in the press conference room.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office in Syria conducted a 5-day visit to the northeast of the country where they received accounts of human rights violations and abuses.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Sudan: ‘History repeating itself’ for Darfur’s children - UNICEF
Mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur 20 years ago reverberated as far as Hollywood, but today, a new generation of children faces attacks, hunger and displacement in an emergency largely ignored by the outside world, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNMAS
Desperate and dangerous conditions in Gaza continue to hamper recovery efforts for the wartorn enclave's people, the UN health agency said on Friday, while demining experts warned that they’ve “barely scratched the surface” in assessing the level of contamination of unexploded ordnance.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News
The continued support of UN Member States to Lebanon will be “indispensable” to boost the country’s national armed forces and provide humanitarian assistance with more than one million people still uprooted by the Middle East war, the UN's peacekeeping chief said on Wednesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNECE
Middle East war: After oil and gas shortages, concerns grow over critical minerals crunch
The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused by war in the Middle East has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals needed to drive economies all over the world and a race by countries to obtain them.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
Millions of desperate Sudanese return home amid dire conditions as war rages – IOM
Three years into the devastating conflict in Sudan, nearly four million displaced people have returned to their places of origin across the country, only to face “another struggle for survival”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNESCO
UNESCO protects cultural sites in war-torn Middle East, confirming damage to key heritage.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
The war in Gaza has inflicted a far higher toll on women and girls than in previous conflicts in the Palestinian enclave, with more than 38,000 killed by Israeli air bombardment and land military operations since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel sparked the war in October 2023, UN Women said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
In 2025, nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, making it the deadliest year on record in South and Southeast Asia, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNFPA , IFRC
Lebanon faces escalating violence, with new mothers uncertain of safety amid ongoing crises.
1
1
1
Edited News | FAO , UNHCR , WHO
Sudan: 14 million displaced; hunger and attacks on health continue as war enters fourth year
As Sudan approaches the third anniversary of a brutal civil war, millions remain displaced and hungry while the health system lies in ruins, with no end to the violence in sight, UN agencies said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNHCR , WFP
Lebanon: People ‘still under the rubble’ after massive strikes as ambulances, hospitals come under threat – UN humanitarians
With Lebanon still reeling from Israel’s devastating airstrikes on 8 April, UN humanitarians reported new fears of attacks on ambulances and looming food shortages in the south of the country on Friday.