Men ride through the wreckage left by Cyclone Mocha in Thae Chaung IDP camp. Sittwe, Rakhine, Myanmar. Photo: OCHA/Pierre Lorioux
Cyclone Mocha
The eye of Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Rakhine State in Myanmar yesterday. The cyclone has brought heavy rains, flooding and strong winds across coastal and low-lying areas in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
These areas were already experiencing significant humanitarian needs, with hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people have already endured successive crises on both sides of the border.
In Myanmar, heavy rains, storm surges and strong winds were recorded, particularly in and around Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine.
Poor weather conditions and telecommunications interruptions make it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage. But early reports indicate that the destruction has been extensive and that already vulnerable people – especially displaced people – will need humanitarian support.
In Bangladesh, tens of thousands of families have been affected. Key facilities have been damaged, especially in the Rohingya refugee camps in Teknaf and neighbouring communities. More than 750,000 people were evacuated to safer locations.
As we told you last week, ahead of the cyclone’s arrival, we and our partners pre-positioned supplies and personnel to assess and respond to needs.
We urgently need access to people in need and additional funds on both sides of the border. We also need to sustain under-funded life-saving programmes to respond to the continuing humanitarian crises in both Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The US$764 million Humanitarian Response Plan for Myanmar in this year is only 10 per cent funded. The Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis which needs $876 million to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in Cox Bazar, the island of Bhasan Char and neighbouring communities in Bangladesh, is just 17 per cent funded.
Sudan
A month of fighting has taken a devastating toll on civilians.
As of 11 May, at least 676 people have been killed and 5,576 others injured, according to Sudan’s Ministry of Health.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is ramping up food assistance to people fleeing the violence, including to those newly displaced from fighting in the capital, Khartoum. WFP has also started its first-ever distributions in the state of Aj Jazirah.
This life-saving aid is critical, given the heightened risk of food insecurity in the coming weeks. The prices of staple goods have risen dramatically, and the conflict is threatening the main planting season.
In light of surging needs in Sudan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees will jointly launch a Revised Humanitarian Response Plan and Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan. This is scheduled for Wednesday morning in Geneva and it will be webcast.
Somalia
Floods caused by the annual rains have left a trail of destruction across the country. Homes and farmland have been inundated, livestock have been washed away and school and health facilities have temporarily shuttered.
With the authorities, we will conduct a rapid needs assessment tomorrow. According to early estimates by our partners, more than 460,000 people have been affected, including nearly 219,000 people who have been displaced.
In Hirshabelle State, one of the most affected areas, the Shabelle river overflowed its banks, forcing thousands of people to move to higher ground.
We and our partners are implementing a national Flood Preparedness and Response Plan, but we will need funding to meet increasing needs. The nearly $2.6 billion Humanitarian Response Plan is only 25 per cent funded so far.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP have sent early warning text messages to 5,000 farmers across Hirshabelle State. FAO and its partners have also provided sandbags shovels and other supplies to help clear drains and mitigate flooding.
WFP is sending 17 tons of high-energy biscuits and has provided boats to reach people in flooded areas.
Should heavy rains continue in Somalia and in the Ethiopian highlands, our partners estimate that up to 1.6 million people could be impacted, with more than 600,000 people displaced.
The rains also increase the risk of outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
Ukraine
Our colleagues on the ground have received reports of deadly attacks across the country over the weekend. In addition to civilian casualties, there was damage to schools, hospitals and other critical facilities on both sides of the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.
In the city of Mykolaiv, an attack on Saturday damaged a bakery contracted by the WFP to supply bread to communities there and in the neighbouring city of Kherson. The vehicles used to store and transport bread were also damaged. Thankfully, the staff were safe and able to return to work on Sunday to resume their deliveries.
The Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, said on Twitter that the humanitarian community will continue to support their courageous work to bring bread to front-line communities.
We once again call on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Malawi
Ten UN agencies and more than two dozen NGOs, alongside the Red Cross and Red Crescent, continue to support the Government-led response following the devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy.
Through the end of April, we and our partners provided supplies – including food and shelter – to more than 570,000 people in the hardest-hit areas.
When the cyclone made landfall, Malawi was already facing its worst cholera outbreak in two decades. In response, we and our partners ensured access to clean water for nearly 660,000 people – and more than 270,000 school children received water, sanitation and hygiene supplies.
Altogether, we’ve reached roughly 1.4 million people with humanitarian assistance. But to continue scaling up these efforts, we urgently need additional funding. So far, our revised flash appeal for Malawi – calling for $116 million – is just 21 per cent funded.
