Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Rohingya camps in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh witnessed heavy rainfall today, Wednesday, raising concerns over possible landslides in the hilly areas.
This coincides with a warning issued by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department on May 26, forecasting heavy rains over the next 72 hours starting this morning in several areas. The warning highlighted the risk of landslides in regions such as Chittagong, Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachari, and Cox’s Bazar which hosts the world’s largest Rohingya refugee camp.
Authorities, including site management teams from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), local volunteers, and Rohingya volunteers, have urged for the immediate dissemination of this warning to families living in hilly and high-risk zones within the Cox’s Bazar camps.
All at-risk families have been advised to temporarily relocate to safer areas to avoid casualties and injuries. Weather forecasts indicate that rainfall will continue in Cox’s Bazar in the coming days, prompting urgent precautionary measures to protect camp residents from potential dangers.
The heavy rainfall exacerbates the humanitarian crisis faced by Rohingya refugees, who live in shelters made of bamboo and fabric structures vulnerable to collapse. In addition, flash floods significantly increase the risk of landslides, which can lead to the destruction of shelters and displacement of families.
Landslide incidents are recurrent in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar. In December last year, a child died and two others were injured in a landslide. A previous incident claimed the lives of six people, including three Rohingya, due to heavy rain.
Bangladesh currently hosts over one million Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, which the United Nations classifies as the largest refugee settlement in the world. The refugees fled Myanmar following a campaign of genocide launched against them by the Myanmar military in 2017. Their displacement worsened after renewed fighting between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army in November 2023, which led to more violence, forced displacement, and forced recruitment.
