Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been moved to higher, safer ground ahead of the arrival of the monsoon seasonal in Bangladesh.
The UN Refugee Agency has shared this video footage of families who fled Myanmar to Kutupalong camp near Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh. This video shows Hasina Begum and her husband Abu Siddique packing up their bamboo home ahead of the move to safer location.
In the video, Abu tells the interviewer; “We are moving because during the monsoons, the water rises very high here. Water rises to our necks when it rains; water will cover everything here."
His wife responds: “During the rainy season, our children could die in the water.”
The UNHCR said the area has become the world’s largest refugee settlement. It estimated about 80,000 people were at greatest risk of flooding in the area, and 23,000 threatened by landslides.
Around 400 families have already been relocated from low-lying areas and the UNHCR has begun engineering work to protect refugee camps from the region’s intense monsoon season and tropical cyclones.
The UNHCR estimated that more than 670,000 refugees have fled to Bangladesh since August last year to escape a campaign of killings, arson and rape targeted at the predominantly Muslim Rohingya community in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Credit: UNHCR via Storyful
