02 July
A fire just last month in the
Bangladesh refugee camps for displaced Rohingya has
destroyed life-saving gardens that provide food to some of
the 1.1 million refugees.
Cox’s Bazar is home to the
biggest refugee camps in the world. It grew rapidly in 2017
following the mass exodus of Rohingya families escaping
massacres in their home communities in Myanmar.
It is
now a multi-year, city-sized humanitarian
operation.
“It is understandable that with so many
crises today, some tragedies get forgotten. That is the case
with the Rohingya community, who have been living in these
fragile, make-shift homes, and raising families in the camps
for nearly ten years.”
A whole generation of children
have grown up in the camps, knowing no other home.
The
settlement is extraordinarily dense, covering only a
relatively small area and consisting largely of
bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters.
“At ChildFund, we stand
by our commitment to leave no-one behind, even when the
stories drop out of the media. We have kept up our support
in places like Cox’s Bazar for 10 years,” says Josie
Pagani, CEO of ChildFund New Zealand.
A devastating
fire tore through Cox’s Bazar last month, destroying food
gardens that provide food security and income generation for
women, damaging shelters belonging to families who had very
little to begin with.
The fire broke out late
afternoon, and was brought under control as quickly as
possible. No one was killed or injured.
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“That is the
good news, but it is the only good news. These fires have
happened before, and they set families back by years. These
gardens are not decorative. They are an important source of
food for families. Progress is fragile, and can be destroyed
in minutes by fire. Months of work, gone in twenty-five
minutes.”
In 2021, a major fire in Cox’s Bazar left
tens of thousands of people without shelter and destroyed
hospitals, learning centres, distribution points and other
essential facilities.
“It has taken years to recover.
Unfortunately fires are one of the camps’ most persistent
threats.”
Shelters are temporary. Families cook over
open flames. People live close together because they have no
choice. When fire starts, it moves quickly.
“A cooking
fire can become a shelter fire. A shelter fire can destroy
food, documents, safety and months of careful
work.”
“Families in the camps cannot escape this risk
by moving somewhere else, like we can in New Zealand. They
have nowhere safe to go. ChildFund will continue to support
the camps with practical work – gardens, education, reducing
the risk of fires, and making sure recovery is as quick as
possible,” says Josie
Pagani.
