MONSOON FLOOD FEARS ADD TO THE PLIGHT OF ROHINGYA IN BANGLADESH
Catastrophe threatens 200,000 refugees with risk of landslides and cholera in makeshift, hillside camps
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face a South Asian monsoon that aid agencies warn could spark a new catastrophe for the Muslim ethnic group.
About 700,000 Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh after what the UN and US described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing and religious persecution by Myanmar.
They settled in flood-prone camps now at risk from the monsoon and the heavy rain and landslides it has caused.
Aid agencies say that about 200,000 Rohingya, more than half of them children, are under threat from the conditions. The UN and host government Bangladesh have been criticised for an inadequate response to the impending crisis.
Heavily populated and low-lying Bangladesh has struggled to find room for the refugees, most of whom now live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters in sprawling hillside camps on national forest land.
As of June 14, the UN had reported one death, that of a young child, in the monsoon. But Myo Thant, 25, a Rohingya refugee from Maungdaw in Rakhine, said a dozen refugees had been killed in landslides since rain began last week.
“People are feeling so sad and scared,” Mr Thant said from Balukhali camp. “What people were worried about is happening in front of their eyes. The international community and help from aid workers is needed urgently to help us survive this situation.”
Because of a shortage of land, the government of Bangladesh has offered low-lying, but hilly sections of national forest for the camps.
“It’s the best they were able to offer at this time,” said Lynette Nyman, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “I can’t think what other options there would have been.”
Much of the land in the camps has been deforested by refugees seeking wood for cooking fires, and rain is washing away the sandy soil. Landslides are already destroying shelters and roads, flooding latrines and creating a health risk.
The rain also increases the threat of water-borne diseases such as cholera.
The UN children’s agency said almost 900 shelters, 15 water points, more than 200 latrines, two health centres it supports and two food distribution sites had been damaged or destroyed in the camps. Most roads into the camps have been flooded.
“The land is the most dangerous part of this situation,” said Ms Nyman, speaking from a camp in Cox’s Bazar, a town on the south-east coast of Bangladesh.
Aid agencies and the government of Bangladesh, which had known of the probable effects of the monsoon rain, have been criticised for not acting faster to protect the camps against flooding.
“The humanitarian response, including preparation for the monsoon season, has been significant and substantial, but it has also been hamstrung by obstacles and lack of effective management and co-ordination by the government of Bangladesh and the UN system,” said Daniel Sullivan of advocacy group Refugees International.
“Failure to overcome these challenges is unnecessarily putting lives at risk.”
With rain expected to continue until September, activists are urging that the camps be made safe before disaster strikes again.
“The problem now is not one of money, it’s one of decongesting extremely overcrowded settlements that are well below emergency standards for camps,” said Caroline Gluck, a public information officer for the UN’s refugee agency in Bangladesh.
“The more it gets waterlogged, the more we’re going to see these problematic things become worse.
“It’s a race against time.”
Landslides are already destroying shelters and roads, flooding latrines and creating a health risk