Bangladeshi Refugees Face Fire (by Cody Smith '23)

5/13/2021

Cody Smith '23

On Monday the 22nd of March, a fire started in the refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The fire burned down many shelters and food centers in the camp, according to Al Jazeera.

As of now, only 7 people have been confirmed as dead, but there may be many more. The destruction of the camp has left about 50,000 people homeless and forced to find shelter around the area. Many of these people have to seek shelter in friend's and family's houses. They are also given shelter in schools.

These refugees belong to a group of people called Rohingya. They come from a province in Myanmar called Rakhine. They traditionally follow Islam, and in a country that follows Muslim, they became persecuted. Many of them were forced into camps with little food and clean water.

With over one million Rohingya people in Myanmar, they represent a large percentage of the population, especially in the Rakhine province. Many of them, in order to escape the camps of Myanmar, fled to the neighboring country of Bangladesh.

They had originally been forced out in 2015 when about 50,000 people escaped by boats on smugglers' ships. However, they would then be abandoned at sea and left to fend for themselves, leading to hundreds of them dying.

This fire has shown the true, horrific issues these people face. They were forced to leave their homes and family behind and move away. Then, when they thought they were safe, they lost their new homes and were forced to move again.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/2/fire-kills-3-in-market-near-rohingya-refugee-camp-in-bangladesh