ASEAN Chairman’s Statement "ASEAN’s Humanitarian Response to Cyclone MOCHA in Myanmar"

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has mobilized humanitarian response to support the emergency relief efforts in Myanmar due to the severe impact of Cyclone MOCHA. As of 2 June 2023, the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) has handed over relief items for the affected communities in the townships of Sittwe, Rathedaung, KyaukTaw, and Ponnagyun. ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) has also concluded their initial needs assessment in the affected areas in Myanmar on 30 May 2023.

The AHA Centre will mobilize the final two batches of relief items on 16 and 22 June 2023 by sea. The final batches, consist of non-food items and water and sanitation hygiene kits, are expected to arrive in Myanmar on 20 and 27 June 2023. ASEAN has also commenced internal discussion on possible ASEAN’s supports for recovery phase based on assessment from ASEAN ERAT Team.

ASEAN’s first batch of humanitarian response arrived in Myanmar on 21 May 2023 and was among the first emergency support received by the affected communities. Relief items mobilized to Myanmar from the Disaster Emergency Logistics System for ASEAN (DELSA) warehouse in Subang, Malaysia, include non-food items such as shelter tools and kits and water sanitation and hygiene with a total worth of 1.64 million USD.

The humanitarian assistance for Cyclone MOCHA reflects solidarity of ASEAN to the people of Myanmar.