UN agencies have stepped up efforts to help thousands of Rohingya refugees left without shelter after a devastating fire
tore through a crowded refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh on Thursday.WFP Bangladesh A devastating fire broke out on 14 January in Nayapara refugee camp, southern Bangladesh, destroying over 500 shelters.
The fire erupted shortly after midnight on Thursday (local time) in the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, gutting
about 550 shelters and 150 shops. A community centre is also said to have been destroyed.
About 3,500 Rohingya refugees, including children, lost their homes and belongings in the blaze, in the middle of winter
and the coronavirus pandemic, UN agencies said.
No lives were lost, and the fire was brought under control in a few hours by firefighters, volunteers and refugees.
The Nayapara camp hosts about 22,500 refugees, of whom about 17,800 are women, children and the elderly.UN response
UN agencies have been on the ground since early Thursday morning, assessing the damage and helping the affected.
“We are working with our Government and NGO partners, other UN agencies, and Rohingya refugees to help people who have
lost their homes and possessions during last night’s terrible fire in the refugee camp at Nayapara,” said Marin Din Kajdomcaj, an official with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Cox’s Bazar.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance, including hot meals to families in need.
Alongside, humanitarian partners from the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), Bangladesh Red Crescent and NGOs are
also assisting the affected people.WFP Bangladesh A Rohingya refugee family amidst the remains of their shelter, which was destroyed in a fire at the
Nayapara refugee camp in southern Bangladesh.
A complex refugee crisis
The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in western Myanmar by armed groups alleged to
belong to the community. These were followed by systematic counter attacks against the minority, mainly Muslim,
Rohingya, which human rights groups, including senior UN officials, have said amounted to ethnic cleansing.
In the weeks that followed, over 700,000 Rohingya – the majority of them children, women and the elderly – fled their
homes for safety in Bangladesh, with little more than the clothes on their backs, joining over 200,000 others sheltering
there as a result of earlier displacements from Myanmar.