SPOKESPERSON ALERT: Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh hit by biggest storm of the year

Dozens of Rohingya refugee shelters were inundated with floodwater or hit by landslides over the weekend, as the biggest storm of the year to date hit refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar.

Heavy showers and powerful winds tore through the camps, leaving behind crumpled shelters and families scrambling to rebuild. Save the Children teams found major roads cut off when they arrived in the camps on Sunday and Monday mornings, with teams having to enter central parts of the camp on foot in order to provide essential services to children, like food programmes and learning centres.

Daphnee Cook, Save the Children’s Communications and Media Manager in Cox’s Bazar, said: “A powerful storm—the strongest so far this year—has again wreaked havoc in the camps, leaving many areas accessible only on foot. We’re especially concerned for children, as they’re the most vulnerable in events like this—leaving them at risk of developing skin diseases, being separated from their families, and losing access to critical services.”

More than two and a half metres of rain are expected to fall in Cox’s Bazar throughout June, July and August during peak monsoon season, with more rains forecast to fall later this week.

Save the Children’s Daphnee Cook is available for interviews from Cox’s Bazar. Please contact Daphnee.cook@savethechildren.org or Natasha.dossantos@savethechildren.org.