An estimated 574,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar are exposed to extreme weather conditions, and their battered camps need sturdier structures that can resist cyclones and other forms of disasters they are going to face this monsoon season, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said.
The housing conditions have dramatically deteriorated in the nearly 18 months since August 25, 2017, when violence erupted in Rakhine State of Myanmar, forcing people to flee.
They have only rotting bamboo and shredding plastic to protect them from such extreme conditions.
A Red Cross-Red Crescent survey found that 82% of the 700,000 people in sprawling camps urgently need sturdier shelters to protect them from extreme temperatures, monsoon downpours and two cyclone seasons a year, according to a media release issued both from Cox's Bazar and Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Only 250,000 got emergency help
In the past 18 months, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS), supported by IFRC and Red Cross and Red Crescent partners from around the world, has assisted over 250,000 people with emergency help, including food, water and shelter materials. More than 160,000 refugees have received medical care.
Head of IFRC Country Office in Bangladesh Azmat Ulla said that the housing conditions in the camps are basic.
"However, after 18 months, they have dramatically deteriorated, leaving people worryingly exposed. The aid community in Cox's Bazar needs to prioritise repairing and replacing those battered shelters, so that people have some protection against the elements, and are provided with at least some basic comfort and dignity," he said.
In recent weeks, Red Crescent staff and volunteers have distributed tarpaulins, ropes and tools to 49,000 families, benefiting 200,000 people.
BDRCS Secretary General Feroz Salah Uddin said people need sturdier structures that can resist cyclones and other forms of disasters in the coming months.
"Our trained technicians are helping camp residents to improve their own shelters. This is especially important for people with disabilities and the elderly, as well as those households headed by women and children," he said.
Rohingyas being trained
Ahead of the cyclone season in April and May, the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and government agencies are also training thousands of volunteers from the Rakhine community in cyclone preparedness.
BDRCS, supported by IFRC and other Red Cross and Red Crescent partners, has so far trained 8,400 people to make their shelters safer, and more training will be offered.
However, IFRC’s Azmat Ulla said all the cyclone preparedness training, well-rehearsed emergency drills and necessary equipment in the world will not protect people if a deadly tropical cyclone barrels up the Bay of Bengal, as has happened in the past.
Fact remains
The fact remains these people have nowhere to evacuate to, Azmat Ulla said, adding: "The pitiful state of people's shelters illustrates how utterly unsustainable and unsafe this life is. We continue to call for an urgent political solution to this crisis. But in the meantime, more is needed to at least provide the people with basic comfort and dignity."
