The Myanmar Red Cross Society said it was “preparing for a major emergency response”.
In Bangladesh, authorities have banned Rohingya refugees from building concrete houses, fearing it could encourage them to settle permanently rather than return to Myanmar, which they fled five years ago following a brutal military crackdown. ran away after.
The camps are generally slightly inland, but most of them are built on hills, making them prone to landslides.
Forecasters expect the cyclone to bring a deluge of rain, which could trigger landslides.
“The wind picked up around 8:30 this morning and it’s getting stronger,” a leader of the Rohingya community in the Kyaukphu displacement camp told AFP.
“A house in the camp collapsed and the roof of a shelter set up by the UNHCR was blown off,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Hundreds also fled Bangladesh’s St. Martin’s Island, a local resort area in the storm’s path, with thousands moving to cyclone shelters on coral outcrops.
The people left behind said that they feared the coming of the storm.