Rohingya refugees forced to scramble for aid in Bangladesh

KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh: Every day Sunabhan joins thousands of other Rohingya refugees by the roadside near her settlement in southern Bangladesh waiting for aid trucks to arrive and readying herself for the desperate scramble for food.

Like most of the nearly 400,000 refugees who have flooded into Bangladesh in the past three weeks to escape violence in Myanmar, she relies entirely on hand-outs from local volunteers operating with no official oversight and little coordination.

Today Sunabhan, a widowed mother of four, managed to fight her way through the scrum of hungry refugees near the camp in Kutupalong and grab a bag of rice flakes.

But often the 44-year-old, who arrived in Bangladesh with her family 10 days ago after fleeing the violence that killed her husband, goes away empty handed.

“There are more people than food so it is very chaotic,” said Sunabhan, who like many Rohingya goes by only one name.

“The strong ones run to the trucks and they get the food first, it is more difficult for women and children.”

The United Nations said this week there was an urgent need for a coordinated response to the massive influx of desperate people, most of whom have still had no assistance from aid agencies or the state.

Ordinary Bangladeshis have stepped into the breach, filling trucks and driving to the new settlements that have sprung up.

But their distribution methods make it impossible to ensure that aid reaches those who need it most.

Each time a truck pulls up, the refugees scramble to grab the food parcels, water bottles and clothing the volunteers throw into the desperate crowd.

At times fights break out; at others, children who have clambered up the sides of vehicles, hands outstretched for food, are swept onto the street when the trucks suddenly speed off. — AFP