Floods in Bangladesh affect 12,000 Rohingya refugees: UNHCR

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Monsoon rains in Bangladesh have affected over 12,000 Rohingya refugees while an estimated 2,500 shelters have been damaged or destroyed in the country’s southeast, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

More than 5,000 refugees were temporarily relocated to other family member’s shelters or communal facilities as over 300 millimeter of rains fell on camps hosting more than 800,000 refugees, according to a UNHCR statement.

The statement said that at least six Rohingya refugees died in rain-related incidents.

“More heavy downpours are expected in the next few days with the monsoon season stretching over the next three months. The situation is further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic,” it added.

Bangladesh is currently home to nearly 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims who fled a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine state in their home country of Myanmar in August 2017.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, while more than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires and over 114,000 others were beaten, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).