By Minaz Kerawala, Communications and Public Relations Advisor
Further aggravating the Rohingya crisis, a fire broke out in a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on May 24, 2024. Thanks to the presence of mind of volunteers following robust emergency protocols, no lives were lost. The blaze in Camp 13 did, however, exact a heavy toll.
Eighteen people were injured and at least 221 shelters were damaged or destroyed (see report), leaving 1,300 people unhoused. Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada’s local partner, Caritas Bangladesh, too, suffered significant losses. Two of their child-friendly spaces and a community safe space were gutted, as was a major warehouse and distribution centre.
This was not the first such conflagration, nor even the first one we have reported, and it is unlikely to be the last. According to the International Organization for Migration, there have been over 1,200 fire incidents in the camps since 2018.
Rohingya crisis: fragility and flammability
Two factors contribute to the high fire risk. The first is overcrowding.
Fleeing what Canada has recognized as genocidal persecution in Burma (Myanmar), hundreds of thousands of Rohingya poured into Bangladesh in 2017. Per the last count, 978,003 of them are now crammed into 33 dense camps that constitute the world’s largest refugee settlement. It does not help that the camps are not connected to the water mains.
The second factor is how the shelters are built. Although it welcomed the Rohingya refugees with admirable generosity, the Government of Bangladesh is intent on their eventual repatriation. To avoid lending the camps an air of permanence, it forbids the use of durable construction materials.
This means that shelters have to be built of bamboo and tarpaulin. Despite this constraint, Caritas Bangladesh has done a commendable job of building well-designed shelters that better meet women’s needs. Training and employment provided under its shelter program, which we have long supported, have enhanced women’s sense of agency and economic independence.
Nonetheless, the shelters remain vulnerable to all sorts of disasters.
Rohingya crisis: the vagaries of the weather
Although Bangladesh’s disaster preparedness planning is exemplary, the refugee camps remain exceptionally vulnerable to bad weather not only because they are in a flood- and cyclone-prone region, but also because the shelters are so flimsy.
Every year, in the lead-up to the summer and fall cyclone seasons, Caritas Bangladesh and others scramble to reinforce the shelters as best they can. When cyclones inevitably strike the camps, much effort and expense have to be invested in rescue, recovery and reconstruction.
People in the camps were on tenterhooks as Cyclone Remal brewed in the Bay of Bengal. It made landfall on May 26, cutting a swath of destruction and claiming 16 lives across 19 Bangladeshi districts. The refugee camps were spared a direct hit, but they have not always been so lucky. Even a glancing blow from Cyclone Mocha had destroyed the shelters of some 40,000 refugees last year.
Rohingya crisis: funding crunch
A May 2024 update from the Inter Sector Coordination Group, which coordinates humanitarian agencies serving Rohingya refugees, makes disturbing reading. Only 16 per cent of the projected US$852.4 million required for this year’s Joint Response Plan has been raised. Since 2017, the international community has contributed less than two-thirds of the required funds.
This underfunding is devastating for the Rohingya refugees who, lacking the right to work or travel, are totally dependent on international aid. Even their food rations were cut by 30 per cent because of budgetary constraints last year.
Although Global Affairs Canada’s backing and Canadians’ generosity allowed us to support a broad range of Caritas Bangladesh programs for six years, the funding has not been sustained. Currently, we only have grants enough to support a couple of multipurpose child and adolescent centres, where Rohingya girls and boys receive transformational care, instruction and support.
With dwindling international support, including from Canada, Caritas Bangladesh now faces a €125,000 bill for rebuilding the infrastructure it lost to last week’s fire.
Rohingya crisis: what’s needed and how to help
Most Rohingya refugees would love to return home, an outcome that all stakeholders consider desirable. Unfortunately, continuing violence in Burma is making that prospect increasingly distant.
Losing ground to rebel forces, the Burmese army is conscripting the very Rohingya people it first hounded out of the country. Nor are they safe from being targeted by rebel militias, as was revealed at a recent UN press briefing.
Given this situation, the calls made in the joint statement issued by Caritas Bangladesh and its international partners early last year remain relevant today.
We reiterate the need for the international community to:
- Sustain and increase funding for the Rohingya crisis
- Pressure the Burmese junta to cease persecuting minorities
- Support and persuade the Government of Bangladesh to provide the Rohingyas access to work, education and more durable shelters
These imperatives are beginning to be acknowledged. In a statement issued earlier this month, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States underscored “the urgent need for sustained international support to protect and save the lives of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.”
As governments and international agencies take time to turn words into action, you can help right now by making a donation. Your generosity will help Caritas Bangladesh recover from its setback and sustain and increase the vital support it provides to the Rohingya people.
