Over 300 Pauk Taw residents evacuated due to cyclone Mocha

More than 300 local residents of Pauk Taw township in Rakhine State have evacuated fearing the danger of cyclone Mocha. They have been taken to safer places.

Abbot of the village informed Narinjara News that the villagers from Nga Pyi Kyunt were evacuated and currently put in the village monastery of Kyint Kha Maw.

"Among those shifted there are children, women and elderly people. Many more people are now coming to the shelter fearing the storm," added the abbot.

Daw Ma Than Kyi, who too fled her place, said the storm will hit the Rakhine coastal area very soon.

“We have bad experience about the storms. So, we have taken shelter in safer places. There may be flood after the storm. I am now worried about my fishing boats and nets which would be damaged,” she added.

Myanmar meteorology and hydrology department reveals that the cyclone may strike the coasts of Myanmar and also Bangladesh.

A low-pressure area was formed on 8 May over the Bay of Bengal adjacent to the Andamans and it was apprehended that it would develop into a deep depression in the next few days.

Indian meteorological department maintained that the system formed over the Bay of Bengal would evolve into a cyclonic storm (named Mocha).

Due to the possibility of storm, residents from various localities including Pauk Taw, Rambree, Manaung, Sittwe were evacuated. However, the number of evacuated individuals is yet to be known.

It is also reported that fire brigades in the Rakhine coastal towns have also been readied for emergency uses.