About 150,000-200,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar are at risk from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season, the UN has said. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said yesterday that more than 7,000 Rohingya refugees were affected by storms or landslides earlier this month, at the start of the monsoon season.


"The monsoons typically deposit 2.5 meters of rain on Cox's Bazar, resulting in significant flooding. As a result, 150,000-200,000 refugees and 883 community facilities are at risk from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season, including 25,000 refugees at critical risk," he said. Dujarric said UN Agencies have ramped up preparedness activities to mitigate the effects of the rains on refugees.


While Bangladesh has been dealing with monsoons annually and has developed some experience in these matters, the situation present in the refugee camps is unique in scope and volume, and the international humanitarian community is working to support and protect the refugee communities most at risk, he said.


"The lack of sufficient safe space for at-risk refugees and of safe shelters, limits the UN's risk mitigation possibilities," Dujarric said. -- PTI


Image: Rohingya siblings flee violence as they hold one another as they cross the Naf River along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Palong Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh in November 2017. This is a Pulitzer Prize winning picture by Reuter's Adnan Abidi.