Narinjara News, 15 May 2023

Thousands of houses in several townships of Rakhine State in western Myanmar were destroyed by cyclone Mochalast afternoon, but no details arecoming out due to the communication disruption.

According to social media users, who have uploaded many photographs of damaged houses, a large number ofmonasteries, pagodas were also destroyed.Some villages were totally affected by the cyclonic storm.

The cyclone made landfall near Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State with winds of up to 195 kilometres (120 miles) per hour. Itemerges as the biggest storm tohit the Bay of Bengal in over a decade.

According to local sources, Sittwe is severely affected by the cyclone where one third of the houses werefully damaged.

Social organizations based in Rakhine State have already prepared a preliminary list of damaged houses inthe cyclonic storm. However, it becomesdifficult to collect data due to communication failure with the villages as the telephone andinternet connection have been disrupted.