United Nations humanitarian personnel are on the ground evacuating and assisting tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees, after a devastating fire tore through their densely populated camp in southern Bangladesh.
Though exact numbers are yet to be confirmed, initial estimates indicate that more than 87,000 refugees could have been affected in the fire, which started around 3pm on Monday (local time) in Camp 8W of the Kutupalong mega camp.
UN teams have been deployed to evacuate and assist tens of thousands of refugees in Cos’x Bazar, Bangladesh, left without shelter after a massive fire tore through the refugee camp.
📸 @WFP and @UNmigration pic.twitter.com/riZMFvFujr
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) March 23, 2021
It is not currently clear exactly how the fire started.
The blaze then rapidly spread to Camps 8E, 9 and 10. In all, about 66 per cent of the four camps’ populations have been impacted, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The media has reported several deaths and injuries, which are yet to be confirmed. There are also reports that children are among the injured and many have been separated from their families.
The Kutupalong mega camp houses over 700,000 of the roughly 880,000 Rohingya refugees sheltering in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (as of February 2021).
In January, more than 3,500 refugees were left without shelter when a fire destroyed some 550 shelters and 150 shops in the Nayapara camp, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Kutupalong.
Immediate UN response
Engineering and field personnel, as well as food assistance teams from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have been on the ground since the fire was first reported.
The agency also deployed light and heavy machinery, including water tanks and volunteers to help contain the fire and support site management agencies. It also distributed about 6,000 cartons of high-energy biscuits to affected families the night of the fire. On Tuesday, the day after the fire, WFP is providing 62,000 hot lunches and 62,000 hot dinners to the affected.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has mobilized first aid teams and volunteers to evacuate refugees from their shelters. The agency’s child protection personnel and partners are also assisting children in need, including those separated from their families.
“Our priority is to secure the immediate safety, security and protection of children in coordination with the concerned authorities, first responders and partner organizations in the UN and NGO community”, Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh, said in a statement.
Government agencies, NGOs and humanitarian partners are also engaged in the response, delivering emergency supplies and clean drinking water, and providing additional assistance.
The Rohingya refugee crisis
The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in western Myanmar by armed groups alleged to belong to the community. These were followed by systematic counter attacks against the minority, mainly Muslim, Rohingya, which human rights groups, including senior UN officials, have said amounted to ethnic cleansing.
In the weeks that followed, over 700,000 Rohingya – the majority of them children, women and the elderly – fled their homes for safety in Bangladesh, with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Prior to the mass exodus, well over 200,000 Rohingya refugees were sheltering in Bangladesh as a result of earlier displacements from Myanmar.