CNN
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The great fire consumed one Rohingya refugee camp in the Cox’s Bazar district of southern Bangladesh on Sunday, leaving about 12,000 people homeless, local Police Chief Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam told CNN.
Scan through Kutupalong refugee camp By the afternoon, the fire had consumed about 2,000 huts before it was brought under control, Islam said.
No casualties have been reported so far, he said, adding that the cause of the fire has yet to be determined but an investigation is underway.
Authorities are working with international and local humanitarian organizations to provide food and temporary shelter to those displaced, he added.
“We will make sure no one sleeps under the open sky. People will have temporary shelter,” Islam said, with community centers and mosques providing housing for those affected by the fires.
90 facilities including hospitals and learning centers burned down, Bangladesh branch of UN refugee agency UNHCR tweeted on Sunday.
“Rohingya refugee volunteers were trained in firefighting and the local fire services brought the blaze under control,” it added in another statement. tweet.
Humanitarian organization Save the Children said Sunday’s fire was “a terrible reminder that children trapped in camps in Cox’s Bazar face a bleak future.”
“Today’s massive fire will take away the safety of many families and the meager belongings they leave behind,” it said in a statement, adding that “they continue to grapple with inadequate education.” adequate, related to levels of malnutrition, stunting, child marriage and child labor.”
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Bangladesh said on social media that “they are assessing people’s needs to provide assistance.”
Sunday’s fire marks one of the largest some fires has plagued the camp in recent years.
There are an estimated 1 million members of stateless Muslim minority Rohingya live in what many consider one of the world’s largest refugee camps after fleeing a brutal campaign killing and arson of the Myanmar army.
