Shafaqna Pakistan: At least eight Rohingya refugees, including children, were killed and several others injured early Monday after heavy monsoon rains triggered multiple landslides at refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, officials said.
More than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees live in the overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar—the world’s largest refugee settlement—after fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar, where the Muslim minority has long faced persecution.
Most residents live in makeshift bamboo-and-plastic shelters on steep, deforested hillsides that are highly susceptible to landslides during the annual monsoon season.
The landslides struck four locations across the camps, burying shelters beneath mud and debris while residents were asleep. Police said a Bangladeshi man was also killed and two of his family members were injured when part of a hillside collapsed onto their home in Cox’s Bazar.
“Eight people have died in landslides caused by heavy rain,” said Tumpa Das, a police official in Cox’s Bazar.
She said continued rainfall had increased the risk of further landslides, with thousands of refugees still living on unstable slopes.
“We’re moving people out of high-risk areas as quickly as possible to prevent any more casualties,” said Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the Bangladeshi official tasked with refugee relief and repatriation.
The deaths come as renewed fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine State raises concern of a fresh influx of Rohingya refugees across the border. Bangladeshi authorities have stepped up monitoring along the frontier amid reports of people gathering near the border seeking to enter the country.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has forecast more heavy rain in the coming days, prompting authorities to remain on alert for additional landslides and flash floods.
Landslides and flooding are common during the monsoon season in the refugee camps, often killing people and damaging homes, roads and other facilities.
Source: Dunya News
