In the highly climate vulnerable Cox’s Bazar, at least 6 refugees have been killed, three of whom were children, and many more are missing. Humanitarian organizations working in the camps say 200 shelters are flooded, leaving at least 5,000 homeless, according to UNHCR.
Similar to the Covid-19 pandemic response, it is Rohingya refugee volunteer first responders who helped navigate the thousands living in fragile bamboo and tarpaulin shelters. Many were forced to flee their shelters with almost no warning, leaving them with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
As has been our advocacy message about climate displacement risks, refugees are amongst the most vulnerable of the frontline communities to climate shocks and risks, spending year after year exposed to extreme rains and cyclones in Bangladesh with no access to storm shelters.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has documented 300 landslides that have submerged roads and bridges, leaving 14,000 refugees stranded in flooded shelters. They warn such scenarios are likely to increase.
Refugee activists have been warning of increasing risks in the face of climate change and poor site management. With increased flooding, founder of the Rohingya Youth Association Khin Maung says “it’s like we’re living in a river, not on land.”
The NRC’s Bangladesh Director Jamie Munn says “the floods are a window into how vulnerable refugees, and the community that hosts them, are to a rapidly changing climate. At a time of acute need, funding has continued to decline. Donors, we have been told, are fatigued. The cost of that indifference can be measured in human lives.”
Meanwhile, internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Sin Bawkaing camp in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are facing a dire food shortage due to a severe lockdown since July 14 following a Covid-19 outbreak in the camp.
The camp is home to 4,000 IDPs who have become entirely reliant on aid to survive, however since Myanmar’s February 1 coup, very little humanitarian assistance has reached the camp and most IDPs have no means of income.
The access restrictions and delays have equally impacted Covid-19 prevention and mitigation management, where impeded public health education and efforts, including a lack of masks and sanitizers have likely contributed to virus spread. (The Guardian, Al Jazeera)