Fresh threats to survival
TEKNAF: Once-lush hillsides have been transformed into squalid tent cities as Rohingya refugees pour into Bangladesh, joining thousands enduring hunger and disease after fleeing violence in Myanmar.
After dangerous boat crossings or gruelling journeys on foot with little food and water, they do what little they can to shield their families from monsoon rains, frantically building shelters from bamboo and scraps of tarpaulin.
In the last two weeks, 164,000 mostly Rohingya civilians have fled fighting in Myanmar, overwhelming refugee camps in Bangladesh that were bursting at the seams even before the latest influx. Once they arrive, they face fresh threats to survival.
Fatimatuz Zuhra said: “My kids have fever. These plastic sheets can’t protect us from the monsoon. I don’t know what to do if I have to live here longer. I think about the winter and I’m terrified.”
She is one of some 15,000 people taking refuge on the hillsides of Unchiprang.
New settlements are mushrooming across Bangladesh after the exodus that followed a massive Myanmar security sweep following deadly ambushes by Rohingya militants.
But, the impoverished country, which already houses 400,000 Rohingya before the latest influx, is ill-equipped to deal with a situation that aid agencies warn is rapidly becoming a humanitarian catastrophe. AFP