95 landslides hit Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps in six days, over 4,000 homeless: UNHCR

Millions of Rohingya refugees living in camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, remain at risk of landslides as heavy rainfall continues.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said 95 landslides occurred across the Rohingya camps between 4 and 9 July. At least 15 Rohingya refugees were killed in the incidents, while 4,307 people were left homeless. A total of 26,119 people were affected in various ways.

The figures were disclosed in a UNHCR press release issued on Thursday evening.

UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh Ivo Freijsen said humanitarian agencies, in coordination with the Bangladesh government, were continuing emergency rescue operations, relocating refugees to safer areas and providing food, medical care, shelter and other emergency assistance.

However, with forecasts of heavy to very heavy rainfall through 11 July, the camps remain at risk of further landslides and flash floods.

According to the latest information from the Rohingya Coordination Platform (RCP), incidents of flash flooding and landslides are increasing, causing extensive damage to homes, learning centres and other key facilities in the camps.

Families mourn victims

Five female students were killed on Wednesday afternoon when a retaining wall and hillside collapsed onto a madrasah in Block A-11 of Camp 5 in Ukhiya. Eight other students from the madrasa remain hospitalised with serious injuries.

Two days earlier, at least eight Rohingya refugees, including women and children, were killed in separate landslides at the Jamtoli, Kutupalong and Balukhali camps.

The rising death toll has spread fear throughout the camps, with bereaved families struggling to cope with their losses.

One of the victims of Wednesday’s wall collapse was 13-year-old Rashida Begum, daughter of Hasim Ullah. She was buried at the camp cemetery the same day.

Hasim Ullah said heavy rain had been falling since dawn that day.

While he, his wife and three children remained at home, he took Rashida to the madrasa as usual in the morning. Later in the afternoon, he received news that she had died after the wall collapsed.

Fighting back tears, he said he had enrolled his daughter in the madrasah a year ago to memorise the Holy Quran, and she had been only three months away from completing her Hifz.

Two other victims, Umme Nejatul, 13, and Umme Salma, 12, were sisters and daughters of Abdus Shukur. They, too, were expected to complete their Hifz studies within two months.

 “My daughters used to wake me every morning by reciting the Quran. Now our home is filled with grief, and we spend sleepless nights,” Abdus Shukur said.

Another bereaved father, Mohammad Elias, said his family had fled persecution by Myanmar’s military only to face new dangers in Bangladesh.

“We escaped the Myanmar junta, but here we live in fear of landslides during the monsoon, fires in winter and gun violence by armed groups at other times,” he said.

More than 1.4 million registered Rohingya refugees currently live in 33 camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf. Around 800,000 arrived in the months following 25 August 2017.

Not a single Rohingya refugee has been repatriated to Myanmar over the past nine years. Instead, another 152,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State over the past 18 months to escape violence by the Arakan Army and sought shelter in the camps.

Kamrul Islam, a Rohingya community leader in Balukhali camp, said newly arrived refugees had not been allocated official shelters.

They initially stay with relatives and later build makeshift homes by cutting into hillsides inside the camps, increasing the risk of landslides day by day, he said.

Teknaf camps also at risk

Teknaf has seven Rohingya camps, where more than 30 landslides have been reported following heavy rainfall, although no fatalities have occurred there so far.

About 200,000 Rohingya refugees live in the camps in the upazila.

Khanzada Shahriar, camp-in-charge of Camps 25 and 27, said around 100 families living in high-risk areas had already been relocated to safer places, including mosques, schools, shelters and relatives’ homes.

He said awareness campaigns and volunteer patrols had also been intensified to reduce landslide risks.

Badrul Alam, chairman of the Jadimora camp management committee, said fear had spread among refugees as landslides became more frequent due to continuous rainfall, although no casualties had yet been reported in Teknaf’s seven camps.