Massive Fire At Rohingya Camp In Bangladesh Leaves 12,000 Refugees Homeless

A massive fire engulfed a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday leaving around 12,000 people homeless, an official said, according to reports.

The blaze hit Camp 11 in Cox’s Bazar, a border district where more than a million Rohingya refugees reside. Most of them fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. However, no casualties were reported at Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar district, said Emdadul Haque, a fire service official.

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) in Bangladesh said that around 2,000 shelters were damaged or destroyed due to the fire.

Impact of the massive fire in the camps in Bangladesh on 5 March:

2,000 shelters damaged or destroyed

12,000 Rohingya refugees who lost everything again

90 facilities including hospitals and learning centres burnt down pic.twitter.com/qdoeS3zqfm

— UNHCR in Bangladesh (@UNHCR_BGD) March 5, 2023

The UNHCR in Bangladesh also said in a tweet that Rohingya refugee volunteers responded to the fire with the agency and its partners providing support.

Despite the destruction of their own shelters and having lost everything,

Rohingya refugee Community Health Workers continued providing support to the community.

90 of them worked through the night to provide first aid, psychosocial support & refer people to health facilities pic.twitter.com/EQJgGBbIYw

— UNHCR in Bangladesh (@UNHCR_BGD) March 6, 2023

More than 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar over several decades, including about 740,000 who crossed the border starting in August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown. 

Conditions in Myanmar have worsened since a military takeover in 2021, and attempts to send back the refugees have failed.

Last year, the United States said the oppression of Rohingya in Myanmar amounts to genocide after U.S. authorities confirmed accounts of mass atrocities against civilians by the military in a systematic campaign against the ethnic minority. Muslim Rohingya face widespread discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where most are denied citizenship and many other rights.

(With inputs from AP)