Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Mohammed Hanun fled Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State in the first week of this month when security forces burned his house and a group of Buddhists chased him with matchet to kill.
He walked for 11 days before reaching no-man’s land on the Bangladesh-Myanmar the border. He waited there for three days without food before finally reaching Kutupalong makeshift refugee camp on Friday morning.
Hanun is part of looming humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh’s border town of Cox’s Bazar where thousands of desperate Rohingya refugees took shelter fleeing violence in Myanmar.
Bangladesh authorities and aid agencies however struggling to contain the crisis with limited resource and inadequate relief supply.
The number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar is now up to 5,89,000 and more are on their way to Bangladesh, according to UN agencies.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) says that some 8,00,000 Rohingyas are now living in the makeshift settlements in Ukhia and Teknaf sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar, and of whom 589,000 have arrived since August 25.
“The refugees, who fled to Bangladesh, told heartbreaking stories about their perilous escape from Myanmar. They could take only some of their children from Myanmar and left others behind with neighbors. They walked for weeks to reach Bangladesh,” said IOM spokesman Joel Millman.
UNHCR’s spokesman Andrej Mahecic said,” Thousands of Rohingya refugees have arrived on the land border for entry into Bangladesh and many are still on the move inside, trying to make the journey to Bangladesh,”
“Aid agencies are increasing humanitarian operations to keep pace with the growing needs of the expanding Rohingya refugee population in Cox’s Bazar. But the task has become very difficult as the refugees are living there in scattered way,” an UN aid worker told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, “It’s not easy to put together all the infrastructure there to provide the emergency services that are required for Rohingyas. Such a situation has intensified the plights of refugees further worsening the humanitarian crisis.
“The sudden increase in the displaced Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazar has put a lot of pressure on Bangladesh authorities as well as the host communities,” he added.
“The government is working to bring Rohingya refugees to a demarcated allotment of more than a thousand hectares of land in Ukhia for effectively managing the crisis,” Mohammed Abul Kalam, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, told The New Nation yesterday.
He said the army and the local engineering departments are currently working to construct connecting roads, culverts and alleyways to make the place accessible for temporary facilities.
“We have a plan to set up all necessary facilities, including mosques, latrines, bathing places and water facilities. But we will build all those on a temporary basis,” said Abul Kalam.
He said once these facilities are installed there, the humanitarian crisis is expected to be contained.
