[ad_1]
A large fireplace gutted tons of of cramped and flimsy makeshift shelters at a refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh on Thursday and left 1000’s of Rohingya homeless, officers mentioned.
At least 14 folks have been injured however no casualties have been reported after firefighters extinguished the blaze on the Nayapara camp in Teknaf, a sub-district of Cox’s Bazar, mentioned Mohammad Shamsud Douza, an extra refugee aid and repatriation commissioner.
“The fire broke out at around 2:30 a.m. Thursday. According to our estimates, some 552 shelter-homes were gutted, affecting some 3,000 Rohingya. None died,” Douza informed BenarNews.
“The fire spread easily because the houses were built close to each other.”
Most of the 1 million Rohingya who fled Myanmar stay in 34 refugee camps in and round Cox’s Bazar district, together with greater than 740,000 who escaped a brutal crackdown in close by Rakhine state in 2017.
By Thursday afternoon, many Rohingya might be seen sitting in entrance of their gutted houses, or sifting by means of the ashes to see if they may salvage any of their belongings. Many youngsters have been crying and asking for meals.
The fireplace drew consideration to the plight of the tons of of 1000’s of Rohingya refugees sheltering in crowded camps in Bangladesh’s southeastern border area.
“This is another devastating blow for the Rohingya people who have endured unspeakable hardship for years,” mentioned Onno van Manen, the in-country director for British humanitarian NGO Save the Children.
“Since 2017, more than one million Rohingya refugees, half of whom are children, have lived in cramped camps after being violently forced from their homes across the border in Myanmar to escape unimaginable violence. … Today’s devastating fire will have robbed many families of what little shelter and dignity was left to them.”
Thursday’s blaze was the most important of at the least 25 main fires in Cox’s Bazar camps since 2017, the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense Department mentioned.
In May final 12 months, a big fireplace broken greater than 400 tents at Kutupalong, the most important of the refugee camps in Ukhia, one other sub-district of Cox’s Bazar.
Thursday’s fireplace took a very long time to douse as a result of the in any other case flimsy constructions – fabricated from tin – have been supported by concrete pillars, mentioned Muhammad Abdullah, a fireplace service official.
“In case of a fire, we usually flatten the adjacent makeshift houses to restrict the fire. But the houses gutted had concrete structures. So, we could not extinguish the fire easily. Due to congestion, the fire spread easily from one house to another,” Abdullah informed BenarNews., an RFA-affiliated on-line information service.
“We had to fight for three hours to put out the fire.”
Cause being investigated
A police official mentioned the reason for the fireplace was nonetheless unknown, however the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) mentioned {that a} defective cooking gasoline cylinder might have ignited the blaze.
However, one refugee alleged {that a} gang of thieves lit her shelter on fireplace as a result of they needed to drive her son to affix of their actions.
“My house has no electricity connection or cooking gas cylinder. A group of robbers set my house on fire to scare me,” Mabia Khatun informed BenarNews.
Mabia’s neighbor, Azim Ullah, mentioned he knew concerning the risk.
“The fire spread very quickly. Many of the houses had gas cylinders. These cylinders exploded, further escalating the fire. And the fire went out of control,” mentioned Ullah, whose house additionally burned down.
The Bangladesh authorities and different organizations had put in place fire-prevention measures on the camps and skilled the refugee neighborhood in fire-safety practices, the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), mentioned in a press release.
“The rapid and effective response today has shown how preparing together and engaging the refugee communities can help reduce the serious injuries and loss of life,” mentioned ISCG, which gives humanitarian help to affected populations around the globe.
‘Ghastly reminder’
The United Nations and different NGOs have provided medical care, shelter kits, non-food gadgets, winter garments, and emergency meals help to the affected refugee households, ISCG mentioned.
These households are additionally briefly being housed with family and in emergency lodging, it added.
“We have been on the ground since very early in the morning,” Marin Din Kajdomcaj, of UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee company, mentioned within the ISCG assertion.
UNHCR, different U.N. businesses, and NGOs have been working collectively “to help people who have lost their homes and possessions during last night’s terrible fire in the refugee camp at Nayapara,” Din Kajdomcaj mentioned.
The fireplace was “another ghastly reminder that children stuck in the camps in Cox’s Bazar face a bleak future with little freedom of movement, inadequate access to education, poverty, serious protection risks, and abuse including child marriage,” Save the Children’s van Manen mentioned.
“Put simply, despite the relentless efforts of humanitarian communities, a refugee camp is no place for a child to grow up. This is why the international community must find a lasting and durable solution to the plight of the Rohingya.”
Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated on-line information service.
[ad_2]
Source link
