Heavy monsoon rains hit Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

The situation:

Urgent action is needed to help Rohingya refugees who are today being hit by monsoon rains in camps in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. The heavy rains and widespread flooding have already caused over 130 landslides, damaged 3,300 shelters and affected 28,000 people, Oxfam has said.

Outside of the camp in Cox’s Bazar, reports claim that up to 5 children have been killed in a landslide elsewhere in the town. Fallen trees and landslides are blocking some of the roads. There are predictions of up to 100mm of rainfall per day for next few days.

A survey of Rohingya refugees carried out by Oxfam before the monsoon season found that more than half were almost completely unprepared for the floods, landslides and disease that accompany the monsoon weather, with women most at risk.

The UN warns that 200,000 refugees are at risk from flooding and landslides, with around 24,000 of those considered at high risk. So far nearly 25,000 refugees have been relocated to newly flattened ground that should be safer.

What is Oxfam doing?

Oxfam is working with the government of Bangladesh and the UN to relocate refugees to safer areas and to make the remaining areas as weather-proof as possible.
To help keep disease at bay, Oxfam is supporting the UN to build water and sanitation infrastructure in two of the new, safer zones in the Ukhia mega-camp.
Oxfam teams are also cleaning and replacing full latrines, drilling deep wells that won't be polluted by dirty ground water, and working with refugee communities to promote good hygiene.

Oxfam teams are assessing the impact of the current heavy rains. They will provide further information on the numbers of households affected, landslide locations, and these teams will also be prepared to distribute some humanitarian items if necessary.
As part of Oxfam’s emergency plan, trained and identified Emergency Response Team members in Dhaka are available to rapidly deploy.

· Since the start of the crisis, Oxfam has helped more than 180,000 Rohingya refugees with clean drinking water, emergency toilets and food rations.

Spokespeople and media materials

Oxfam has spokespeople available in Ireland and on the ground to discuss the humanitarian situation.

Oxfam media materials will also be available, including to mark the forthcoming first anniversary (August 25th) of the violence in Myanmar which sparked the current Rohingya refugee crisis.

CONTACT:

For interviews or more information, contact:

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Alice Dawson-Lyons, Oxfam Ireland, on +353 (0) 83 198 1869 / alice.dawsonlyons@oxfamireland.org

NORTHERN IRELAND: Phillip Graham on 0044 (0) 7841 102535 / phillip.graham@oxfamireland.org