Powerful cyclonic storm Mocha, packing winds of up to 175 kilometers per hour, is headed for the eastern coast of Bangladesh and western Myanmar, threatening an estimated one million Rohingya refugees.

After forming in the Bay of Bengal days ago, Cyclone Mocha is expected to further strengthen and hit Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region and Myanmar tomorrow Sunday, the Bangladesh Meteorological Service warned.

In Cox’s Bazar, around one million Rohingya Muslim refugees, most of whom fled Myanmar in 2017 to escape military persecution, live in makeshift camps in squalid conditions.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stepped in and is preparing “for an emergency situation” in the camps, with authorities saying they are “ready” with heavy machinery to clear roads, a spokesman said.

Mocha has been designated a very severe cyclonic storm. Myanmar’s Rakhine state is also expected to be hit, as is the northwest of the country, where six million people are in need of humanitarian aid and 1.2 million are displaced, the UN noted.

Strong winds and heavy rains could cause flooding and landslides in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the agency’s humanitarian affairs office warned.

“We are focused on saving lives,” said Mohammad Samsud Duza, a Bangladeshi government official responsible for refugees. “Those at risk of landslides will be moved away.” Thousands of local government workers and volunteers have already been deployed to the area, while doctors and rescue workers are on standby, he added.

In Myanmar, the World Food Program (WFP) said it was preparing aid for more than 400,000 people in Rakhine State and surrounding areas.