UN gives $14mn to rebuild destroyed Rohingya camps in B'desh

Dhaka, March 25 The UN has donated $14 million to help rebuild Rohingya camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district after they were destroyed in a massive blaze earlier this week, leaving thousands of the refugees homeless and killing at least 15 of them.

The fire on Monday ripped through four refugee camps at Balukhali, home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar, leaving at a dozen others wounded, reports dpa news agency.

"I am allocating $14 million from UNCERF (UN Central Emergency Response Fund) to help rebuild shelter and provide other emergency services for the tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees affected by the devastating fire in the camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh," Mark Lowcock, the UN humanitarian chief, announced in a tweet.

The funds will also help provide urgent water and sanitation services, food, mental and psychosocial health assistance, the UN said.

The government and volunteers from aid agencies have started supporting the fire victims and rebuilding shelters. Aid agencies estimated some 10,000 shelters were destroyed.

The fire displaced more than 45,000 people mostly Rohingya refugees, the UN agency said.

A hospital and other critical health, nutrition and education structures were also destroyed in Monday's fire.

Those who were displaced have sought refuge in nearby camps, shelters and school buildings.

"Rohingya refugees need our support now more than ever, as the pandemic continues to take its toll and they approach the monsoon season," said Lowcock.

More than 1 million Rohingya Muslims have been living in 34 squalid camps built on more than 3,000 hectares of hilly land in Cox's Bazar after they fled persecution in Myanmar.

Nearly 750,000 of them crossed the border after Myanmar launched a military crackdown on the ethnic group in 2017.

( With inputs from IANS )