IOM teams to support Rohingya affected by camp fire

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has deployed several teams within Rohingya camp-16 in Cox’s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh to provide assistance to forcibly displaced Muslim community affected by a second devastating fire in one week.

On Sunday, around 1,200 Rohingya refugees’ homes were destroyed in a massive fire in the Kata area of Camp-16 refugee camp.

“IOM currently has a mobile medical team on the ground to provide assistance as needed. Additionally, IOM, through its communications with communities’ team, is being deployed within the camp to ensure people have access to good information,” said a statement issued by the organisation.

IOM has also mobilised non-food item kits to help those in need. In addition, the organisation intends to conduct technical assessments in Cox’s Bazar together with other humanitarian entities to assess and meet the needs of the refugees.

“We are coordinating with other humanitarian actors to ensure that those affected are provided with food, health, protection, water, sanitation, and hygiene needs. Shelter repair/rebuilding and access to cooking facilities - in the form of LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] are top priorities as the affected families seek to recover from the damages caused by the fire,” Nusrath Ghazzali, officer-in-charge for IOM Bangladesh, said in the statement, the news agency reported.

This is not the first time that a fire has broken out in the Rohingya camps. Incidents of fire have become common in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Officials concerned have often attributed the origin of fires to gas cylinders. However, insiders in Rohingya camps have claimed that the fire is a result of arson.