Rabijan Begum has been sitting before the site management office since 9am. The 34-year-old lived in Rohingya camp 8W of Ukhiya with her husband and three children, but their house was heavily damaged and had its roof blown off by the strong winds of Cyclone Mocha.
Now the family is sitting on the side of the road waiting for an organization to help repair their home. At the very least, they need some bamboo and fencing to make a roof for the night.
This is not the first time that Rabijan has found herself by the side of the road waiting for repairs to their house at the camp. They have never had a house strong enough to withstand strong winds in the years they have been at the camp.
On Sunday afternoon, Rabijan and her family went to a nearby school that had been prepared as a shelter when the storm hit. They did not vacate their home until the roof was literally ripped out of their hands.
In 2017, Rabijan escaped with her life from Myanmar. She is still haunted by memories of atrocities by the Myanmar Army, and the harrowing escape with her husband and first child.
She was already pregnant before leaving Myanmar. Her second child was born two months after coming to Bangladesh.
“We are dealing with disasters or cyclones and living in this camp. Our houses are being destroyed again and again, but we are surviving here. We didn't go to the shelter before the storm started, and by the end my husband and I were holding on to the roof by the poles,” she told Dhaka Tribune.
“As the strong winds and heavy downpour continued, we began getting worried about the children. Even then, we tried to hold on to the roof. I know the pain of sitting under the open sky with the children,” she added.
When asked if they had not been afraid, she said: “Who wouldn't be afraid in a cyclone? But I consider this situation as destiny. We left our fate to God.”
Preparing for disaster
Three days before the cyclone hit, warnings were issued by various organizations and the Bangladesh government through mic announcements at each camp. Rabijan and her husband knew about the cyclone from Friday morning and were supposed to go to designated shelters, but they chose to stay behind and try to save their house.
Several other members of the Rohingya community did the same.
When asked what the family did in the three days after receiving the cyclone warning, Rabijan said: “On Friday morning, my husband bought some bamboo and rope for TK700. We were told last year that our roof was not tied on strongly enough, so we thought we would tie them tighter. We did not understand how strong the storm would be.”
Each day, the family would finish their meal and then start taking precautions to prevent damage to the house, as did other families who had chosen not to go to the shelters. All family members together tied the roof on stronger and piled sacks of sand around the house until the evening, while the cyclone continued its approach.
“I used to look at the sky all day, wondering how much time we had before the storm arrived,” she said.
“From Saturday morning, the government people were telling us to go to the shelter and to be careful. But there were more Rohingya people like me who thought that we would stay at home and save the house. Many people were also afraid of robbery if they went to the shelter,” Rabijan added.
“On Saturday my husband spent the whole day repairing the house. I packed two bags - one with children's clothes and necessary papers, including our Rohingya identity data card, and another with some dry food. I also had TK400 in my hand,” she said.
She said that she did not sleep all night, as she was afraid that the strong wind may start at any time.
‘The floor seemed to shake'
It started raining in the morning on Sunday. Her husband came out of the house twice to report what other people were doing, but otherwise stayed indoors. Almost all the people in the camp were inside their houses from the morning.
She had heard from others the cyclone had caused a lot of damage in Myanmar, where people's houses had been destroyed.
The family were having lunch when the storm reached the camp.
“The sound of the wind shook the wooden floors inside the house. After 30 minutes, the wind started blowing into our room. The house was shaking very loudly. I held my three-year-old in my lap and held on to a pole of the house. My husband and elder son held two more poles. After a while, it seemed like the roof of the house was broken and flailing above our heads,” Rabijan said.
Her children began screaming in fear, and Rabijan started to pray. After spending three hours like this, some of the fencing and part of the roof was blown away, and the family had to go to the shelter.
In their panic, they forgot to take the two bags they had packed. Rabijan waited in the rain as her husband went back for them, and they then went to the nearby school.
About 40 people spent the night in that shelter. She prayed all night that they would find the shed of their house, and that the food at home would not go to waste.
In the morning, she returned home and found that everything in the house was scattered. After their clothes dried, they sat in front of the site management office of the camp and waited for the necessary supplies to make repairs.
Her husband began work as a labourer and would make around Tk500 if he helped with repairs all day.
“None of us died in the cyclone, but I don't know what the future holds for us,” Rabijan said.
UN appeals for aid
In a statement on Monday, the UN and humanitarian partners urgently appealed for aid to address the dire situation at the Rohingya camps following the cyclone.
Although the impact of the cyclone could have been much worse, the refugee camps have been severely affected, leaving thousands desperately needing help, the statement said.
The government of Bangladesh, in close coordination with the UN and its partners, developed a strong preparedness response, and has been working tirelessly to provide emergency relief to the affected communities, including women, children, people with disabilities and those more vulnerable to different risks.
The Rohingya refugees themselves have bravely been at the forefront of the cyclone response, with more than 3,000 Rohingya men and women trained and equipped as first responders in fires, floods and cyclones helping their community stay safe before, during and after the cyclone. They helped evacuate people residing in landslide-prone areas and those with specific needs to safer locations within the camps.
This year's humanitarian appeal for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis is only 16% funded. Funding shortfalls have already led to a 17% cut in food assistance. The Rohingya refugees have endured unimaginable hardships, some thousands losing all their belongings in a huge fire just weeks ago. Cyclone Mocha has only compounded their suffering and made it more difficult to provide life saving support to refugees in Bangladesh, the statement added.
