IOM pledges $1m for Rohingya camp fire victims
PBC News: International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has pledged $1 million from its emergency fund to the relief efforts after the Rohingya camps fire and it said further $20 million is required to respond to the most urgent needs.
The massive fire swept through three IOM-managed sites Monday displacing roughly 45,000 Rohingyas and causing catastrophic damage to a Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp in Bangladesh.
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More than 10,000 shelters were damaged in the fire and the largest health centre in the camp was destroyed.
The loss of the 24/7 health centre, which served more than 55,000 people in the last year, now further complicates the challenge of responding to COVID-19, IOM said.
The fire that raged through the camps only slowed once it reached the main roads, slopes, canals and rice fields.
It has since subsided, but not before consuming essential facilities, shelters and the personal belongings of tens of thousands of people.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
According to humanitarian agencies and local authorities, 11 people have lost their lives, more than 500 people have been injured and roughly 400 are still missing.
“This disaster is a terrible setback that exacerbates the humanitarian needs of Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar,” said IOM’s director general Antonio Vitorino.
