According to Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam, the local Superintendent of Police, a large fire broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar district in southern Bangladesh on Sunday, resulting in approximately 12,000 individuals losing their homes.
No casualties have been reported so far, he said, adding that the cause of the fire is not yet determined but an investigation is under way.
Authorities are working with international and local humanitarian organizations to provide food and temporary shelters to those who have lost homes, he added.
“We will ensure no one sleeps under the open sky. Everyone will get a temporary shelter,” Islam said, with community centers and mosques providing housing to those affected by the fire.
On Sunday, the Bangladesh branch of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR tweeted that 90 structures, including hospitals and learning centers, were destroyed by the fire.
Humanitarian organization Save the Children said Sunday’s fire was a “ghastly reminder that children stuck in the camps in Cox’s Bazar face a bleak future.”
“Today’s massive fire will have robbed many families of their safety and what little belongings they have left,” it said in a statement, adding “they continue to grapple with inadequate education, concerning levels of malnutrition, stunting, child marriage, and child labor.”
According to a statement by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Bangladesh on social media, they are evaluating the requirements of the affected individuals to provide assistance.
Around 1 million individuals from the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority live in some of the largest refugee camps worldwide after escaping a cruel operation of murder and arson carried out by the Myanmar military.
