BANGLADESH Fire in Cox’s Bazar, 12,000 Rohingya displaced

At least 2,000 homes were destroyed in what is considered the largest refugee camp in the world. Teaching centers, schools and hospitals were also devastated. For experts, the main problem is relocating the refugees. For the UN, the deaths of those fleeing Burma and Bangladesh by sea are also increasing.

Cox’s Bazar ( / Agencies) – At least 12,000 people were displaced after a huge fire ripped through the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, one of the largest in the world, where nearly a million people live, most of them Rohingya ethnicity.

The Bangladeshi authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion. The flames, which engulfed nearly 2,000 bamboo-built shops and shelters yesterday, spread after some gas cylinders ruptured, local officials said. The police are investigating whether it could have been a deliberate tampering.

The fire started at around 2:45 p.m. yesterday (local time), said Bangladesh Refugee Commissioner Mijanur Rahman. The fire was brought under control in about three hours, he added, but in the meantime it destroyed at least 35 mosques and 21 refugee learning centers and, according to the UN Refugee AgencyAlso some hospitals. Many evacuees returned to the site of the devastation today looking for objects, but judging by the images, it seems that only tin roofs were left. “My shelter was destroyed. Even my business burned down,” Mamun Johar, a 30-year-old Rohingya, told the Agence France Press. “The fire took everything from me, everything.”

It is a “serious incident in what was already a chronically very vulnerable population and in a precarious balance,” he told the BBC Hardin Lang, from the organization Refugees International. Difficulties in getting aid are related to overcrowding in Cox’s Bazar: relocating thousands of people and providing basic services in other parts of the camp (after schools and water facilities were destroyed) will be a challenge for authorities, according to reports. experts.

The refugee camp has long been considered vulnerable to fire: according to a report by the Bangladesh Ministry of Defense released last month, in 2021 and 2022 there were 222 fires, of which 60 were arson.

The Rohingya minority is of the Muslim confession and is mainly concentrated in the Burmese Rakhine state. Since 2017, due to violence perpetrated by the army, the Rohingya have taken refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. According to a recent UN report, 2022 saw an “alarming” rise in the number of Rohingya refugees who lost their lives at sea trying to escape Burma (where civil conflict is raging after the February 2021 coup). ) or Bangladesh, where living conditions have become unbearable. According to UN spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo, “at least 348 people died or disappeared at sea in 2022, making it one of the deadliest years since 2014.”