Bangladesh moves to evacuate refugees ahead of 'very severe' Cyclone Mocha

Bangladesh Saturday moved to evacuate Rohingya refugees from "risky areas" to community centres and hundreds fled an island as the most powerful cyclone in nearly two decades barrelled towards the country and neighbouring Myanmar, officials said.

Cyclone Mocha was packing winds of up to 175 kilometres per hour (109 miles per hour) and meteorological officials in Dhaka classed it as "very severe", with their Indian counterparts calling it "extremely severe".

It is expected to make landfall on Sunday morning between Cox's Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in camps largely made up of flimsy shelters, and Sittwe on Myanmar's western Rakhine coast.

"Cyclone Mocha is the most powerful storm since Cyclone Sidr," Azizur Rahman, the head of Bangladesh's Meteorological Department, told AFP.

That cyclone hit Bangladesh's southern coast in November 2007, killing more than 3,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.

Bangladeshi authorities have banned the Rohingya from constructing permanent concrete homes, fearing it may incentivise them to settle permanently rather than return to Myanmar, which they fled five years ago.

"We live in houses made of tarpaulin and bamboo," said refugee Enam Ahmed, who lives at the Nayapara camp near the border town of Teknaf.

"We are scared. We don't know where we will be sheltered. We are in a panic."

Forecasters expect the cyclone to bring a deluge of rain, which can trigger landslides. Most of the camps are built on hillsides and landslips are a regular phenomenon in the region.

The storm is also predicted to unleash a storm surge up to four metres (13 feet) high, which can inundate low-lying coastal and riverine villages.