More than one million Rohingya face dramatic overcrowding in Bangladesh refugees camps, or are internally displaced
Prompted by the scope and speed of Rohingya refugee crisis, UNHCR declared a “Level 3 Emergency” – the highest level – in mid-September.
Excerpts from reports published by
- Save the Children
- UNOCHA
- UNHCR
More than half a million Rohingya fleeing horrific violence and bloodshed in Myanmar have arrived in Bangladesh over the past six weeks.
According to latest estimates some 515,000 refugees have fled from Myanmar since 25 August, including people continuing to arrive this week. The emergency assistance is focused on refugee protection, shelter, water and sanitation and bolstering the capacity of the local host communities across south-east Bangladesh. Relieving dramatic overcrowding in the two existing camps – Kutupalong and Nyapara – which are now twice their population prior to the latest crisis – is also a priority, not least as refugee numbers are still growing.
Among the refugees are large numbers of children, many of them unaccompanied or separated from their families. More than half the new arrivals are women, including mothers with small children or infants. There are also many older people and people with disabilities. Illness, injuries and trauma as a result of extreme violence, torture and sexual abuse exacerbate the hardships. Many have lost family, relatives and friends. The new arrivals have joined an estimated 300,000 refugees who were already in Bangladesh before the crisis.
Internally Displaced People
Additionally, there are 121,000 internally displaced people in Rakhine State and 98,000 others in Kachin and Shan States.
- An estimated 281,000 newly arrived Rohingya are in need of urgent nutrition support to prevent or treat malnutrition, according to new data from the Inter-Sector Coordination Group, including 145,000 children under the age of five and more than 50,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women.
- At least 14,000 newly arrived Rohingya children under five are already believed to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Fire Earth 