Charter activations

Tropical Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar

Cyclone Mocha crashed ashore in Myanmar on 14 May 2023 at about 1:30pm (07:00 GMT). One of the most powerful storms to ever hit the region crossed the coast of northwestern Rakhine State, south of the Bangladesh border, uprooting trees, bringing down pylons and cables, and creating a tidal surge that inundated streets in the low-lying region.

Rescuers evacuated many people trapped by seawater 3.6 metres (12ft) deep along western Myanmar's coast and high winds crumpled cell phone towers during the day, cutting off communications.

At its peak intensity Saturday night and into early Sunday morning, Cyclone Mocha contained 200 mph maximum sustained winds, putting it at number two on the list of all-time strongest storms in the Bay of Bengal.

Cyclones - the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the Northwest Pacific - are a regular occurance on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean where tens of millions of people live.

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis left at least 138,000 dead or missing in Myanmar, in the country's worst natural disaster.

Related News and Resources

Tropical Cyclone Mocha in Bangladesh

Type of Event:	Ocean storm
Location of Event:	Myanmar
Date of Charter Activation:	2023-05-11
Time of Charter Activation:	18:45
Time zone of Charter Activation:	UTC+09:00
Charter Requestor:	ADRC on behalf of AHA Center UNITAR on behalf of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) \| Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Activation ID:	818
Project Management:	Angsana Chaksan (Geoinformatics Center – Asian Institute of Technology (GIC-AIT))
Value Adding:	LONGFEI LIU (NDRCC), Suwanan Sateiandee (UNOSAT)