Cyclone Mocha is heading toward the world’s largest refugee camp

A tropical cyclone is strengthening in the Bay of Bengal and is on course to hit western Myanmar and Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, where around 1 million people live in flimsy shelters in what many consider to be the world’s largest refugee camp.

A tropical cyclone is strengthening in the Bay of Bengal and is on course to hit western Myanmar and Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, where around 1 million people live in flimsy shelters in what many consider to be the world’s largest refugee camp.

Cyclone Mocha is the first to form in the Bay this year and is expected to strengthen further before making landfall on Sunday, likely in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, near the border with Bangladesh.

According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Mocha strengthened Friday (May 12) into the equivalent of a category 1 Atlantic hurricane and is moving north at 11 kilometers per hour (7 miles per hour).

The storm’s winds could peak at 220 kph (137 mph) – equivalent to a category 4 Atlantic hurricane – just before making landfall on Sunday morning, the agency said.

India’s Meteorological Department said Friday Mocha had intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and warned fishermen and trawlers against sailing far into the Bay over the coming days.

The agency forecast a storm surge of up to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) was likely to inundate low-lying coastal areas in the path of the cyclone at the time of landfall.

In Bangladesh, that includes Cox’s Bazar, home to members of the stateless Rohingya community who fled persecution in nearby Myanmar during a military crackdown in 2017. Many live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters perched on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to strong winds, rain, and landslides.