Imagine trying to prepare your home for a tropical cyclone of more than 200kph that whips up heavy rains and floods as well as flinging debris around at lethal speeds. Now imagine that your home is a flimsy temporary shelter in a sprawling refugee camp. That is the reality that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh faced when Cyclone Mocha struck on Sunday.
The powerful storm, which has left a trail of destruction in its wake, is just the latest misfortune to befall a group that have suffered profoundly. Thousands of Rohingya were already living in camps inside Bangladesh, having fled years of persecution in Myanmar, when they were joined in 2017 by an estimated 700,000 more, running from a campaign of attacks that some UN officials have described as genocide. “My house is shaking as though it will fall any time,” said Mohammed Ali, 31, of Nayapara refugee camp. “They are so flimsy as it is made of bamboo and will collapse any time. My children are scared but we have nowhere to go.”
Indeed, the Rohingya are an entire community with nowhere to go. Their years living of living in a dangerous, seemingly unending limbo is a situation that demands an immediate response – one that ultimately ends with a safe return to their homes in Myanmar as full citizens with all the rights that citizenship entails.
In the meantime, imposing restrictions on impoverished and displaced people that prevent them from living with at least some measure of security is a policy that must change. Rohingya in many Bangladesh camps are not authorised to build permanent structures of brick and mortar. They are also prevented from leaving the camps – this left them hideously exposed to the danger posed by Cyclone Mocha. Bangladesh has many problems of its own, and although the authorities moved thousands of families from low-lying areas before the storm, Cox’s Bazar – described by the UN as the world’s biggest refugee settlement – remains without a cyclone shelter.
Enacting changes to mitigate the effects of seasonal monsoons and dry-season fires is possible. Many of the Rohingya in Bangladesh have been living in forced exile for years – children have been born in the camps, making them the only home they have known. This calls for collaboration between the local authorities, the international community and NGOs to explore options for semi-permanent structures that not only provide the Rohingya with shelter from the elements but become a more liveable space, free from the crime, disease and poverty that has flourished thus far in the growing, ageing camps.
Some Rohingya, keen to escape the camps and return to their homeland, have recently been presented with a bilateral pilot scheme for repatriation. However, some Rohingya have told The National that they do not have trust in these plans, and the UN has said it has not been involved in the process.
Cyclone Mocha has provided a sharp reminder of the daily peril the Rohingya face. It should focus minds not only on trying to eventually resolve the crisis but on making refugees’ lives as safe and as secure as possible in the here and now.
