Monsoon rains trigger landslides, wreak havoc for refugees in Cox’s Bazar
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (12 June 2018) - The potential catastrophe that World Vision and other aid agencies have long warned of is beginning to unfold in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh as rains lash 883,000 people subsisting in the world’s largest, most densely populated refugee camp.
Torrential downpours over the past two days triggered flooding and landslides, damaging hundreds of refugee shelters and killing at least one young child, according to government reports. More than 200,000 refugees in the camps face direct danger of their homes collapsing.
“In the camps yesterday, I saw children standing next to houses that are teetering on the edge of cliffs and sewage-filled flood waters washing out bridges,” say Jimmy Tuhaise, World Vision Emergency Response Director in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
Mr. Tuhaise says children—who make up nearly half of the refugee population—are particularly at risk. “We are really concerned about children as the storms are forecast to continue over the next few days. Like all children, they love water, but they’re playing in stagnant, contaminated ponds and puddles. They are vulnerable to diseases like acute watery diarrhoea that is already rampant in the camps. They also risk being injured or separated from their families during a deluge.”
Another two days of heavy rain are predicted for the area, before a temporary break in the weather.
“Unfortunately, the time for major risk mitigation is over and aid agencies are now moving into emergency preparedness,” Mr. Tuhaise says. “We are prepositioning supplies to meet the needs of affected families, including tarpaulins, rope and hygiene kits. In partnership with other aid organizations, we are also giving children ID bracelets so they can be quickly reunited with their families if they get lost or separated during the storms.”
For the past months, World Vision has raced against the clock to help mitigate disaster. To enable families to reinforce their makeshift, dilapidated shelters, World Vision recently distributed upgrade kits (60 bamboo poles, tarps, rope and tools) to 49,200 refugees. Refugees were also hired through cash-for-work programmes to build bridges, bolster sandbag staircases on the steep hillsides and brick-pave access roads into the camps. However, rain and mud are making roads slippery and impassable for aid delivery trucks.
More than 700,000 people, most of whom identify as Rohingya, have fled Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh since August last year after violence erupted in northern Rakhine state. They joined another 200,000 refugees who were already living in Cox’s Bazar for several years.
For more information or to arrange an interview with World Vision’s Bangladesh Refugee Crisis Response Director Jimmy Tuhaise, please contact:
Karen Homer |Communications Manager | Karen_Homer@wvi.org |+88 0184 726 4883| Skype: Karen.homer.guelph