A massive fire broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh, leaving tens of thousands of people without shelter. The fire, which broke out on Sunday, consumed approximately 2,000 shelters in the Cox's Bazar camp.
Several hundred people have come back to the area to salvage whatever they can from the ruins. An estimated 12,000 people, the majority of whom fled violence in neighboring Myanmar, are currently homeless. Unknown at this time is the cause of the fire. Also, no fatalities have been reported.
The fire began at approximately 14:45 local time (08:45 GMT) and quickly tore through the bamboo-and-tarp shelters, according to an official spokesman.
Mijanur Rahman, Bangladesh's refugee commissioner, told the sources that about 2,000 shelters have been destroyed while 12,000 have forcibly been displaced Myanmar nationals without shelter. However, at least 35 mosques and 21 learning centers for refugees were destroyed.
There are photographs illustrating the extent of the destruction. Numerous former residents can be seen rummaging through the charred area, where only metal struts and scorched corrugated roofing remain.
According to Hrusikesh Harichandan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the camp had sustained "massive damage." He stated that essential services such as water treatment facilities and testing facilities were also affected.
Mamun Johar, a 30-year-old Rohingya man told sources that his shelter was demolished and his store was also destroyed. Dense black clouds could be seen rising above Camp 11, one of many in the border district where over a million Rohingya refugees reside. The overcrowded and filthy camps are susceptible to fires.
In the Rohingya camps, there were 222 fire incidents between January 2021 and December 2022, including 60 cases of arson, according to a report released by the Bangladeshi defense ministry last month. A massive fire ripped through a camp in the settlement in March 2021, killing at least 15 people and displacing approximately 50,000.
The refugee camp, which is reportedly the largest in the world, is home to people who fled Myanmar after a military crackdown against the Rohingya ethnic minority. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled into Bangladesh in August 2017 after Myanmar's army launched a violent crackdown against them. They risked everything to flee on foot or by sea a military offensive that the United Nations later described as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
The Rohingya are one of Myanmar's numerous ethnic minorities. The Rohingya, who numbered approximately one million in Myanmar at the beginning of 2017, are one of the country's numerous ethnic minorities. The majority of Myanmar's Muslims are Rohingya, the majority of whom reside in Rakhine state. They have their own language and culture and claim to be descended from Arab traders and other groups who have inhabited the region for generations. Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation, denies the Rohingya citizenship and even exempted them from the 2014 census. They refused to recognise them as people. Sadly, It views them as Bangladeshi illegal immigrants.
