DHAKA: According to the United Nations, a fire that ravaged a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, in southeast Bangladesh, has displaced more than 12,000. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 2,000 homes and more than 90 other buildings, such as hospitals and schools, were lost in the blaze on Sunday. After fleeing a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017, Cox’s Bazar is now home to over a million Rohingya refugees who have taken refuge there.
Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said that Bangladesh is looking into what caused the fire. Once the report is received, “it will be clear whether it was an act of sabotage or not,” he said.
The crowded camp with its improvised buildings is prone to fires. In March of 2021, a catastrophic fire destroyed over 10,000 homes and killed at least 15 evacuees.
Twenty-four-year-old local resident Shafiur Rahman has petitioned for upgraded amenities. Homes in Myanmar were burned to the ground. It’s the same here now,” he said.
Additionally, Amnesty International requested that the government of Bangladesh ensure the refugees’ safety by supplying them with secure shelter.
Yasasmin Kaviratne, the group’s South Asia regional campaigner, urged the government to take action to provide adequate and safe housing for the Rohingya community.
More Rohingya refugees are risking their lives by leaving Bangladesh for countries like Malaysia and Indonesia due to rising crime, difficult living conditions, and bleak prospects of returning to Myanmar. According to UN estimates, 348 Rohingya were lost at sea in 2017.
