CARITAS Australia is supporting Church and emergency workers in Bangladesh, after a massive fire swept through a Rohingya refugee camp on Monday, destroying thousands of refugee shelters, health centres and other facilities.
Local media reports showed a blaze ripping through the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar with black smoke billowing over burning shanties and tents as people scrambled to recover their possessions.
Caritas Bangladesh reported nearly 6,000 shelters destroyed in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, leaving about 9,000 households without a place to live.
It was the third blaze to hit the camp in four days. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but is believed to have been spread by exploding gas cylinders used for cooking in the shelters.
Nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in cramped conditions in Cox’s Bazar after fleeing conflict in Rakhine state in Myanmar in 2017, making it the largest refugee camp in the world.
“Fires like this are unfortunately common in the overcrowded camps, but they have a serious impact on already vulnerable families who have been struggling to cope with the combined impacts of displacement, poverty and the pandemic,” Caritas Australia’s Humanitarian Program Coordinator for Asia, Bernice Sarpong, said.
“The damage to health centres is especially worrying, as addressing health issues in the camps is already complex, and with the damage to health centres, this will only become more challenging.
“Our local partner, Caritas Bangladesh, is working with local emergency services and assessing the damage that has been done to infrastructure and shelters so that we can respond as effectively as possible.”
Caritas Australia is accepting donations to help support vulnerable communities in Asia through the Asia Emergency Appeal. Details: caritas.org.au.
