Rain compounds Rohingya misery amid relief chaos

Heavy rain on Monday increased the misery of tens of thousands of Rohingya families spending nights under the open sky in areas of Teknaf and Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar district, causing delays in relief distribution and prompting calls for army deployment to coordinate the humanitarian aid effort. Men, women and children were seen sitting in the mud by the roadside, trying to find shelter under trees, and rushing to vehicles that stopped in the hope of receiving aid. Government officials, UN representatives and NGO workers said nearly 400,000 desperate Rohingya urgently need temporary shelters, coordinated humanitarian relief and health care. The long journey from Myanmar to Bangladesh left most of the refugees suffering from exhaustion and disease, including fever, diarrhoea, respiratory problems and skin diseases. Experts said many government agencies and NGOs were working for refugees without central coordination, leading to chaos and wastage. They said if the humanitarian aid effort was properly coordinated then accommodation, relief and medical facilities could be provided to the refugees within a short period of time. Some aid workers said that in the current situation the government should consider deploying the army for the management and efficient distribution of relief material. Assistant Deputy Commissioner and Executive Magistrate of Cox’s Bazar, AKM Lutfor Rahman said many volunteers are helping the refugees but not in a systematic way. They should coordinate with the authorities, he said. He mentioned that many well-intentioned people had distributed blankets as relief although there is no need for such items in the hot climate. If peoples donated to the Deputy Commissioner’s official relief cell it would be helpful, he said. He further said: “We need food storage sites to create a reserve of food and relief goods, but don’t have enough space in our warehouses. We are trying to increase storage facilities since many people are donating relief material.” However, others pointed out that the government offices had been slow to react to the crisis and did not have sufficient resources to meet the rising demand for food, water, shelter and other facilities. By Monday evening, local government officials in charge of registering Rohingya refugees said they had been able to register just 5,800 Rohingya arrivals. Around 4,000 toilets had been built so far, officials said. The DC office said out of around 400,000 Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar, only 5,800 registered ones can get shelter at the centres built by the government. Those who remain unregistered are spending their nights under the open sky. Technical Officer- Family Planning at UNFPA Bangladesh, Syed Abu Hasan told Dhaka Tribune that everybody wanted to help the refugees but were not doing so in a coordinated way. To meet healthcare needs, more medical teams needed to be deployed urgently including more medicine, doctors and management people. At first the Rohingya needed shelter from rain and sun, he added. Many non-government organisations and government agencies were supplying clean water, as well as oral rehydration saline, Hasan said. But the refugees don’t know how to use the oral saline because they cannot read the instructions, he pointed out. Cox’s Bazar Civil Surgeon Dr Abdus Salam said a total of 32 medical camps are working to provide treatment. On Monday Director General of health Professor Abul Kalam Azad visited the area and gave instructions to scale up the healthcare delivery. To add to the climate of uncertainty and chaos, two Rohingya refugees, including a minor boy, were trampled to death after a herd of wild elephants ran through a newly-built slum for Rohingya at Kutupalong. Locals said five to six elephants stampeded through a corner of the Modhurchhara Rohingya slum in the early hours on Sunday. Shamsul Alam, 55, from Bolibazar Fokirer Deil area in Rakhine state, and his two-year-old son Syedul Amin were trampled to death as the elephants rampaged through a few huts before returning to the nearby forest. Five people were also injured. Ukhiya police station Officer-in-Charge (investigation) Md Kai Kislu told the Dhaka Tribune that some huts had been built about a week ago. The huts were built blocking a trail used by wild elephant herds that live in the nearby forest, he added. Local people were seen building shanty houses for the Rohingya in Tegra Khali, Dokhin Bagguna, Mokkarbil, Muckar Khela areas where almost 100,000 refugees are living under the open sky.