“In order to be able to give the people some measure of dignity and safety in Bangladesh, we need to be able to count on increased levels of international support.” “With a million people having arrived from Myanmar and the numbers continuing to rise, we are responding to a massive and complex humanitarian crisis which poses ever greater challenges,” said BDRCS Secretary General BMM Mozharul Huq, ndc. Those who have travelled on foot and made perilous boat journeys over the last three months are facing an uncertain future in sprawling camps with rudimentary shelter – often made only of plastic sheeting and bamboo. He says six of his uncles were killed on the journey to seek safety in Bangladesh. “My education is what I miss most,” says 17-year-old Abdul as he chats with visitors in the compound of the Red Cross Red Crescent hospital where his younger brother is being treated for two broken legs sustained in an attack by elephants on their camp. Providing emotional support is also an acute need, for those who have in many cases been violently uprooted from their homes. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, with the support of IFRC, ICRC and national societies from around the world, has provided emergency relief to more than 413,000 people, deployed a 60-bed field hospital and mobile clinics that have treated more than 21,000 patients, and distributed more than 130,000 litres of safe drinking water.īut the influx poses ever greater humanitarian challenges such as shelter, toilet facilities and in preventing the spread of disease. Thousands more are reported to be waiting to cross the border. The number of those arriving in Bangladesh since August 25, when the latest flare-up of violence in Rakhine state began, has now reached 620,000, taking the total to nearly one million, including those from an earlier wave of arrivals. Many of the agencies have called on in the international community to provide more support and engage to find political solutions to the crisis. With hundreds more often arriving daily, humanitarian organizations including the Red Cross Red Crescent are increasing efforts to help meet the escalating needs. He has no idea when the rest of the family might be able to return to their home. He says they had to leave behind a blind younger brother unable to make the 15-day journey.
They sit outside their tent in the transit centre, housing many of the most vulnerable new arrivals, where Red Cross Red Crescent teams have been providing medical help.Īs smoke from a cooking fire swirls around him, he cannot help but remember the flames that engulfed houses back in Myanmar.
He, his sisters and their children left their home in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in the dead of night after flames began to engulf houses in a nearby village. “We would go back if it is safe to do so,” says Dil Mohammad, who says he is in his 40’s but looks older. Crowded into sprawling camps of polythene sheeting, around a million people who have sought safety in Bangladesh amid violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state are now facing a future of uncertainty and need.