Sitting in front of dilapidated huts and piles of ashes in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 80-year-old Rohingya refugee Amina Khatun began to cry as she talked about her 60-year-old son, Abul Hayer.
“Less than 24 hours ago he was fine and alive next to us,” he told VOA. “And then, the fire started.”
At least two people were killed and more than 4,000 left homeless on Tuesday after a massive fire broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in Kutupalong. More than a million Rohingya people live in bamboo and tarpaulin huts in Cox’s Bazar, with several thousand more arriving in the past few months fleeing conflict between the government and the rebel Arakan Army in their native Myanmar.
At around 12:30 pm on Tuesday, Khatun, along with thousands of other Rohingya people in Kutupalong, first saw the fire.
“My son had initially left his shelter with us when the fire broke out. But he went back to get some important documents – and was never able to get out as he was trapped behind the intense flames,” Khatoon said.
“Our lives depend on the few documents we have as stateless refugees. But now, my son – a loving father of five – is gone along with the documents due to a sudden fire.”
The casualties included at least 19 Rohingya people who were injured in the fire, according to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar-based Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, or RRRC. The disaster also destroyed critical infrastructure such as water tanks, tap stands, toilets and bathing stalls in the refugee camp. Mosques and offices of RRRC affiliates were also damaged.
Scans relief efforts
RRRC Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman told VOA that the camp in-charge, volunteers and his officials including the fire brigade brought the fire under control.
“We had to demolish some shelters to prevent the fire from spreading. We have teamed up with UNHCR and partner NGOs to ensure that from tonight onwards all those made homeless have a temporary roof to sleep under,” he said.
The United Nations World Food Program, WFP, will provide regular food to fire survivors “until they are fit to take care of themselves again,” Rahman said, adding that his team will be on hand to help them as soon as possible. There is hope of creating new shelters.
Although the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, senior Fire Service and Civil Defense official Tanharul Islam told reporters on Tuesday that an investigation has been launched.
However, survivors of the fire told VOA that they had yet to receive any relief assistance as of Wednesday morning.
“We have not yet received any help from the authorities or local NGOs,” said Khatoon, the surviving parents of Abu Hayer, who lost his life yesterday. “We don’t even know how the fire started.”
The second camp resident killed in Tuesday’s fire was six-year-old boy Burhanuddin. Her father, 34-year-old Mujifur Rahman, echoed Khatoon’s comments regarding assistance following the tragedy.
“In fact, our Rohingya refugee community in Cox’s Bazar has never been educated about any safety measures or protocols to be followed to avoid or survive such fires,” he said.
Recurring Problem – Across Borders
Bereaved father Rahman said he was especially worried about his surviving family members because such fires are “surprisingly common” in Rohingya refugee camps. “I wonder if many of these fires are deliberately set,” he said.
In the same camp in January this year, UNHCR mentioned in its social media post that more than 1,000 shelters were destroyed in a fire accidentally started by a clay oven.
In 2023, a fire that burned down shelters housing more than 12,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar was described as a “planned act of sabotage” by a senior government official, who said the arson was carried out by terrorist groups. VOA had reported that the fire was caused by a feud between Rohingya gangs in the camps.
On the other side of the border, in India, many Rohingya refugees living in camps face the same challenge.
The Social and Political Research Foundation has reported that at least 12 “mysterious” fires broke out in Rohingya refugee camps in India between 2016 and 2021. Many of the arson incidents are suspected to have been carried out by right-wing Hindu nationalist groups. Country.
Responsibility for a 2018 fire in India that destroyed more than 50 Rohingya refugee shelters was claimed by the youth wing of the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.
Mohammad Arfan, a senior member of the WASH, Sanitation and Hygiene project with Community Partners International in Bangladesh, said Rohingya refugee families in Cox’s Bazar live in overcrowded and extremely cramped shelters made of highly flammable materials, often with gas cylinders in unsafe conditions. Let’s cook with. ,
“These families have survived the genocide and have already lost everything. Now, they are facing another tragedy. “These are not just statistics, but parents, children and grandparents who have lost homes, memories and loved ones,” he said.
“This fire is a reminder that we need to do more to not only respond to these tragedies but to prevent them from happening.”
