Myanmar: Cyclone Mocha Situation Report No.4 (As of 14:00 8 June 2023)

This more comprehensive product now replaces the daily Flash Updates that were previously issued by OCHA Myanmar on Cyclone Mocha. This Sit Rep is produced by OCHA in collaboration with the seven operating humanitarian clusters and their sub-working groups in Myanmar. The humanitarian response section is not necessarily reflective of all humanitarian interventions undertaken on the ground but rather those voluntarily reported by partners. Sit Reps are now being issued weekly.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The humanitarian access situation in cyclone-hit Rakhine state has deteriorated with existing travel authorizations (TAs) for humanitarian organizations suspended this week pending new, centralized discussions in Nay Pyi Taw.

• Initial approval for humanitarian distribution and transportation plans for cyclone-affected townships in Rakhine have also been rescinded pending further Nay Pyi Taw-level deliberations. Similar plans in Chin are also pending.

• Some requests for the replenishment of relief supplies from outside the country have been approved, but with significant conditions. Others remain pending.

• The suspension of access in Rakhine brings a stop to activities that have been reaching hundreds of thousands of people.

• To date, more than 110,000 affected people have received shelter and other essential relief items.

• Food assistance had reached almost 300,000 affected people in Rakhine state alone.

• In Rakhine, partners were distributing seeds and organic fertilizers to provide families with food to eat and sell. Further scaled-up distributions of agricultural inputs are critical to combating food insecurity in affected areas over the months ahead and are now also on pause.

• Humanitarians have also been prioritizing the wellbeing of children in the response, including through the establishment of hundreds of mobile and temporary child-friendly spaces, and the distribution of critical child safety messaging to nearly 28,000 people across Rakhine and the Northwest.

• The suspension of activities in Rakhine could not have come at worse time with the monsoon arriving. An urgent scale-up of the response is needed, expanding activities that had already been underway in the impact zone and adding to assistance being distributed by a range of local authorities and civil society organizations in different areas.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The monsoon season has arrived in Myanmar, further worsening the living situation facing people whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Mocha in mid-May. Heavy rains and some flooding were observed in areas that were already heavily impacted, further hampering the recovery process for people whose coping capacities are already stretched to the limit.

Against this backdrop, access restrictions have escalated. Existing TAs that had been facilitating assistance delivery in Rakhine have been suspended pending centralized discussions in Nay Pyi Taw through the Disaster Management Committee. Using these existing approvals, humanitarians had been reaching a growing number of people in need. More than 113,200 people in the affected areas have received shelter and other relief items, while food assistance has reached more than 293,800 people in Rakhine alone. In addition, humanitarians have been working to ensure cyclone-affected children are looked after with the establishment of 240 mobile and temporary child-friendly spaces in Rakhine and the Northwest. These spaces provide safe environments for children to engage in recreational activities and receive vital psychosocial support after the trauma and disruption they have experienced. Approximately 28,000 people in Rakhine and the Northwest have also received important child safety messages.

Humanitarians had been hoping to scale-up their operations in the coming weeks, but this centralized decision on TAs now puts that on hold. Initial approval for humanitarian distribution and transport plans across 11 townships have also been rescinded pending additional deliberations in Nay Pyi Taw. Similar plans for Chin are also not yet approved.

Some import requests have been approved with conditions. Others remain pending. Flexible imports are critical for the replenishment of supplies. Scaled-up financial support is also urgently required to facilitate the timely procurement of vital supplies. According to the Financial Tracking Service (FTS), as of 6 June, only US$8 million in additional funds has been received against the $333 million Cyclone Mocha Flash Appeal. This appeal aims to provide assistance to 1.6 million people most heavily impacted by the cyclone in Rakhine, Chin, Sagaing, Magway, and Kachin.