After suffering in the summer heat and monsoon rain, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are bracing themselves for a merciless winter. Cox’s Bazar, where most of the refugees are staying in camps, is witnessing a cold wave after a couple of days of rainfall in the last week. The chilly weather has made the lives of the Rohingyas even more difficult.
Most of the refugees do not have enough clothes to protect themselves from the harsh weather, having escaped the military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state with few possessions.
Aid organisations and relief workers were not prepared for a sudden change of weather and are not equipped to deal with the situation either. Although some foreign and domestic aid workers have started distributing blankets to Rohingya refugees, the supply is not enough to meet the demands.
Latif Ahmed, who is in his 60s, is staying in Balukhali camp. He said his polyethylene tent cannot ward off the cold wave. “The cold wave hit us following the rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday nights last week,” he added. “Three of my grandchildren are suffering from fever because of it.”
Mosammat Khadija, 40, broke into tears while describing her life at the camp. “In Myanmar, the army ruined us and here the harsh weather and sudden rain and cold wave at night increased our suffering,” she said. “Is there no end to our misery?”
However, some of the refugees got lucky and received tents made of better material. “My tent is made of a fabric thick enough to ward of most types of adverse weather,” said Alamgir, who got his tent from the Christian Aid at Jamtoli Rohingya Camp.
Christian Aid’s Project Coordinator Md Monir Uddin said: “We distributed around 12,000 blankets among 6,000 Rohingya families at Jamtoli Camp and Burmapara in the last three days as the winter seems to have arrived early this year.”
The cold wave has also increased the risk of illnesses such as phenomena, cough and fever.
Monir, who is also the site coordinator of all NGOs at Jamtoli camp, added that along with his aid agency, the World Vision too was distributing blankets to the refugees.
The winters clothes and blankets distributed by the aid agencies are not nearly enough though. Balukhali camp shelters around 150,000 Rohingya and most of them have no winter clothes.
The situation in Kutupalong, the largest among the 12 refugee camps in the region, is by far the worst. More than 3,00,000 Rohingya living in the camp are suffering the adverse effects of the cold weather. The children and elderly people are most at risk of diseases related to cold.
Some of the Rohingya refugees tried to stay warm by lighting firewood outside their tents but the practice has since been banned by the authorities due to the risk of fire at the crowded camp.
Both Kutupalong Rohingya Camp General Secretary Saiful Islam and Cox’s Bazar Civil Surgeon Dr Mohammad Abdus Salam have warned that the refugees are not adequately prepared to deal with the winter.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, around 6,07,000 Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh since August 25 this year, when the latest round of violence erupted in Myanmar.
This article first appeared on Dhaka Tribune.