Staff Reporter :
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on Friday warned that more than 100,0000 Rohingya refugees now living in Cox’s Bazar’s makeshift camps would be in grave danger because of adverse weather condition during the upcoming monsoon season in Bangladesh.
“The adverse weather conditions, including cyclones, landslides and floods, might envelope tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees staying at the highly congested settlements in Cox’s Bazar district into serious risk,” UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva.
Earlier an UN report said landslide and flood risk hazard puts at least 100,0000 people at refugee camps in grave danger from landslides and floods requiring relocation to new areas or in the neighbourhoods they lived in.
The findings of an initial risk analysis, mapping the world’s largest refugee settlement areas in Kutapalong and Balukhali which have sheltered more than 569,000 refugees, and other Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar.
Experts of Dhaka University, UNHCR, IOM, REACH and the ADPC (Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre) carried out this assessment suggesting that up to one third of the settlement
area could be flooded. As a result, more than 85,000 refugees could lose their shelters. Another 23,000 refugees living on steep slopes within the site could be at risk of landslides.
“The lack of space remains the main challenge for the sector as sites are highly congested leading to extremely hard living conditions with no space for service provisions and facilities. In addition, congestion brings increased protections risks and favours disease outbreak such as the diphtheria outbreak is currently escalating in most of the sites,” according to the UN report.
In addition, key services in the settlement, installed by humanitarian agencies, working with the Government of Bangladesh, are also at risk of being washed away. These include latrines, washrooms, tube wells, and health centres.
Access roads into the settlements could be blocked and inaccessible to vehicles, making it hard to provide emergency aid. There is also a high risk for public health situation, especially of outbreak of communicable diseases.
Andrej Mahecic said the UN refugee and its partners are ramping up efforts to mitigate some of the expected impacts of the upcoming monsoon season in Bangladesh.
“The Government of Bangladesh has acknowledged and committed to addressing these concerns, while UN and humanitarian partners have set up an emergency preparedness group to co-ordinate these efforts,” he said.
Andrej Mahecic said UNHCR has already taken a number of steps to protect refugees. They include providing families with upgraded shelter kits, such as biodegradable sandbags to help to anchor the structures, which are sturdier and can better protect them in heavy rains.
“Several engineering projects are also underway to build bamboo-reinforced footpaths and stairs, raised bridges, bamboo/brick/concrete retaining walls for soil stabilisation and drainage networks,” he said.
The UNHCR further said that the large-scale mechanised work is scheduled to start within the next few weeks to level some of the steep hilltops in order to reduce the risk of landslides, as well as to increase the amount of useable area. In addition, we will start to relocate some families living in the most precarious parts of the camp, who are most at-risk of landslides.
Early warning systems are also being put in place, with public information campaigns also underway to alert the refugee population of the risks they could face. The refugees lived in low-lying plains in the Maungdaw area of the Rakhine State in Myanmar and have not previously experienced landslides.
“As part of our preparations for the monsoons, UNHCR is also working with the Bangladeshi authorities and other key operational agencies in the refugee settlements to pre-position materials and heavy-lifting machinery,” he noted.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on Friday warned that more than 100,0000 Rohingya refugees now living in Cox’s Bazar’s makeshift camps would be in grave danger because of adverse weather condition during the upcoming monsoon season in Bangladesh.
“The adverse weather conditions, including cyclones, landslides and floods, might envelope tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees staying at the highly congested settlements in Cox’s Bazar district into serious risk,” UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva.
Earlier an UN report said landslide and flood risk hazard puts at least 100,0000 people at refugee camps in grave danger from landslides and floods requiring relocation to new areas or in the neighbourhoods they lived in.
The findings of an initial risk analysis, mapping the world’s largest refugee settlement areas in Kutapalong and Balukhali which have sheltered more than 569,000 refugees, and other Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar.
Experts of Dhaka University, UNHCR, IOM, REACH and the ADPC (Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre) carried out this assessment suggesting that up to one third of the settlement
area could be flooded. As a result, more than 85,000 refugees could lose their shelters. Another 23,000 refugees living on steep slopes within the site could be at risk of landslides.
“The lack of space remains the main challenge for the sector as sites are highly congested leading to extremely hard living conditions with no space for service provisions and facilities. In addition, congestion brings increased protections risks and favours disease outbreak such as the diphtheria outbreak is currently escalating in most of the sites,” according to the UN report.
In addition, key services in the settlement, installed by humanitarian agencies, working with the Government of Bangladesh, are also at risk of being washed away. These include latrines, washrooms, tube wells, and health centres.
Access roads into the settlements could be blocked and inaccessible to vehicles, making it hard to provide emergency aid. There is also a high risk for public health situation, especially of outbreak of communicable diseases.
Andrej Mahecic said the UN refugee and its partners are ramping up efforts to mitigate some of the expected impacts of the upcoming monsoon season in Bangladesh.
“The Government of Bangladesh has acknowledged and committed to addressing these concerns, while UN and humanitarian partners have set up an emergency preparedness group to co-ordinate these efforts,” he said.
Andrej Mahecic said UNHCR has already taken a number of steps to protect refugees. They include providing families with upgraded shelter kits, such as biodegradable sandbags to help to anchor the structures, which are sturdier and can better protect them in heavy rains.
“Several engineering projects are also underway to build bamboo-reinforced footpaths and stairs, raised bridges, bamboo/brick/concrete retaining walls for soil stabilisation and drainage networks,” he said.
The UNHCR further said that the large-scale mechanised work is scheduled to start within the next few weeks to level some of the steep hilltops in order to reduce the risk of landslides, as well as to increase the amount of useable area. In addition, we will start to relocate some families living in the most precarious parts of the camp, who are most at-risk of landslides.
Early warning systems are also being put in place, with public information campaigns also underway to alert the refugee population of the risks they could face. The refugees lived in low-lying plains in the Maungdaw area of the Rakhine State in Myanmar and have not previously experienced landslides.
“As part of our preparations for the monsoons, UNHCR is also working with the Bangladeshi authorities and other key operational agencies in the refugee settlements to pre-position materials and heavy-lifting machinery,” he noted.
