Some 7,000 Rohingya refugees, including at least 4,200 children, are homeless after the first large devastating fire of the year swept through a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in a statement Sunday that humanitarian agencies are responding to the latest inferno that ravaged through Camp 5, one of the 33 camps that make the largest refugee camp in the world.
Around a million Rohingya refugees are living in camps in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar more than six years ago. Almost 60 percent of them are children.
UNHCR reports nearly 800 shelters are feared to have been destroyed in the first large fire of 2024, which started around 1 am on Sunday morning and was brought under control by 4 am. Additionally, some 93 shelters were partially damaged, and around 120 facilities, including learning centers, mosques, healthcare centers, latrines and bathing facilities, water points and solar streetlights, have also been destroyed or damaged by the inferno.
No deaths or injuries have been reported so far. The fire's cause is currently unknown and under investigation by Bangladeshi authorities.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, refugee volunteers were first to respond to the blaze, with community volunteers trained on firefighting supported by Bangladeshi authorities, UNHCR, International Organization for Migration (IOM), and local firefighters from the host community in nearby Ukhiya.
Refugees displaced by the fire are now sheltering within the camp’s community centers, and are being provided with emergency food assistance. The Bangladeshi authorities and UNHCR, in coordination with IOM, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are supporting the Rohingya refugees who lost their shelters and belongings.
Save the Children, one of the leading international NGOs working in the Cox’s Bazar camps, said in a statement Monday that the fires were a tragic reminder of the deteriorating conditions in the camps, and the vulnerability of families living in the camps’ flimsy shelters.
“Rohingya refugee children repeatedly tell us that fires are one of their biggest fears. Tragically once again, thousands of children have had to endure this terrifying reality. Thousands have lost what precious little they had,” said Shamin Jahan, Acting Country Director for Save the Children in Bangladesh.
The NGO was on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the fires, coordinating with authorities and other humanitarian organizations to support the families made homeless in the disaster.
“We are providing blankets, floormats, hygiene kits and winter clothes, with Bangladesh currently in its coldest season and temperatures dropping overnight,” the statement noted.
In 2023, the refugees in Cox’s Bazar endured multiple fires and cyclones, monsoon floods, and landslides. Their vulnerability has further deepened due to the rising violence and insecurity in the camps, as well as human trafficking.
Nearly 1 million ethnic Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim minority from Buddhist-majority Myanmar, now live in the sprawling refugee camps of eastern Bangladesh. August 25, 2023, marked the sixth anniversary since over 700,000 Rohingya women, men and children fled Myanmar to Bangladesh, following coordinated attacks by the Myanmar military. They joined hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya who had previously sought refuge in the country.
“After more than six years living as refugees, families are desperate for a better life. They have no access to work inside and outside the camps and are reliant on aid. The situation in the camps continues to deteriorate, with children living in fear of armed gangs and violence – and families resorting to child marriage and child labor to survive,” Jahan said.
The number of Rohingya taking risky boat trips across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea to flee mounting hunger and hopelessness in the refugee camps of Bangladesh this year has topped last year’s numbers. As of November 30, more than 3,468 Rohingya have embarked on the risky boat journey in 2023. Almost half of those risking the journey are women and children.
Most of those fleeing the camps by boat try to make it across the Andaman to Malaysia or Indonesia, both Muslim-majority countries. Several hundred have died attempting the voyage on overcrowded vessels that often are old and rickety. Entire boats packed with refugees are believed to have been lost at sea.
Save the Children is urging the Government of Bangladesh and donors to improve the living conditions in the camps by taking urgent action to prevent fires, such as creating more space for shelters, using building materials that are more resistant to fires and improving evacuation procedures.
The NGO is also calling on the international community to support long-term solutions for the Rohingya by working with the Bangladesh government to expand formal employment and educational opportunities for Rohingya refugees and the host community, expanding third party resettlement, improving rights for Rohingya in regional refugee hosting countries, as well as the eventual voluntary and dignified returns of Rohingya to Myanmar when the conditions are safe and their rights can be guaranteed.
Rohingya people have endured unspeakable hardship for years. For decades, the Rohingya have faced institutionalized discrimination in Myanmar, such as exclusion from citizenship. An estimated 600,000 Rohingya people, living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, are unable to move freely and are subject to government persecution and violence.
Relief operations for the Rohingya refugees are dangerously and chronically underfunded. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to cut food aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh twice in 2023 due to funding shortages. In May, the WFP cut food vouchers in Cox's Bazar to just 8 US dollars, less than 9 cents per meal. In March, the WFP had already reduced its life-saving food vouchers from USD 12 to USD 10 per person per month.
Since January 2024, the WFP has increased its monthly food vouchers back to USD 10 per person. The UN agency currently has a funding gap of US$61 million to increase the food ration to the full amount of now US$12.5. The UN Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis Joint Response Plan 2023 required $876 million. As of December, the response plan was only 49 percent covered by funding.
Further information
Full text: Nearly 7,000 Rohingya refugees homeless as fire blazes through camp in Cox’s Bazar, UNHCR, press release, published January 7, 2024
https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/105914
Full text: Massive fire in Rohingya camp leaves 4,200 children homeless, Save the Children International, press release, published January 8, 2024
https://www.savethechildren.net/news/massive-fire-rohingya-camp-leaves-4200-children-homeless