Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Rohingya refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh witnessed heavy rainfall on Friday, causing significant damage as dozens of temporary shelters were submerged in water, including in Camp No. 27 in Teknaf.
The rain, which began on Thursday, led to the collapse of numerous shelters after they were flooded. Circulating images showed large trees falling onto the fragile shelters made from bamboo and tarpaulin.
According to an Arakan News Agency correspondent, the rainwater inundated dozens of shelters in low-lying areas of the camps, resulting in their collapse and forcing large numbers of residents to flee to safer zones. Many shelters built on low terrain or atop fish farms became uninhabitable after being overwhelmed by floodwaters.
Response teams from the UNHCR’s site management units in Bangladesh quickly reacted to the emergency, providing support to affected families and relocating those at risk of landslides to safer areas.
Simultaneously, teams from the World Food Programme (WFP) provided emergency food aid, including biscuits and hot meals for lunch and dinner, to support the affected families and meet their basic needs, according to an official statement.
Rohingya refugees live in fragile shelters made of bamboo, tarpaulin, and zinc sheets—structures ill-equipped to withstand extreme weather conditions and vulnerable to collapse. Floods also increase the risk of deadly landslides that destroy shelters and displace families.
Rainfall began on Wednesday following warnings from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department of expected heavy rains lasting 72 hours, along with alerts about potential landslides in hilly areas.
Landslide incidents that claim lives are recurrent in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar. A previous landslide in December resulted in the death of a child and injuries to two others. Before that, another similar incident caused the deaths 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 world’s largest refugee settlement. These refugees fled Myanmar to escape a genocidal military campaign in 2017. Displacement surged again following renewed conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (a separatist group) in November 2023—a conflict that has subjected the Rohingya to violence, forced displacement, and coerced conscription.
