Landslide kills 5, several others feared dead in Rohingya camp shelter house

A madrasa used as a temporary shelter during the disaster has been buried by a landslide in the Rohingya camp in Ukhia of Cox's Bazar. Five people have died so far in the incident while dozens others are feared dead as many people went missing under the mud.

The incident took place at Rohingya Camp No. 5 in Ukhia around 2:30 pm on Wednesday (July 8), said Refugee Relief and Repatriation Officer Mohammad Mizanur Rahman.

He said that the madrasa went under the mud after a sudden landslide in a nearby hill due to heavy rain. So far, information has been confirmed that five bodies have been recovered while two people have been rescued with injuries. Since the madrasa was a temporary shelter, many Rohingyas had taken shelter there. It is not yet confirmed how many people are under the rubble. The fire service is conducting rescue operations at the scene.

Locals said that about 50 people had taken shelter in the madrasa. Many of the Rohingyas who were evacuated from the landslides and risky slopes in the past few days were kept in this shelter. Of them, locals rescued 10 people alive.

Assistant Meteorologist of the Cox's Bazar Meteorological Department Md. Abdul Hannan said that a total of 51 millimeters of rainfall was recorded in 6 hours from 6 am to 12 noon on Wednesday. Earlier, the rainfall in the district in 24 hours until 6 am on Tuesday was 129 millimeters.

Due to continuous rain, landslides have been occurring one after another in Cox's Bazar for the past few days. Between Sunday night and Monday night, 11 people, including women and children, died in separate landslides in Rohingya camps 7, 11 and 15 of Ukhiya and 1 person in Cox's Bazar town.

A child died in a landslide in Pekua on Monday. Another woman lost her life in a landslide in Dariyanagar of Sadar on Tuesday afternoon. In addition, two children, including a Rohingya, drowned in rainwater. With the five killed in Wednesday's incident, the death toll in landslides in the district has increased to at least 16 in the last four days.

Meanwhile, according to the 'Inter-Sector Flash' report of the UN-affiliated organizations released on Tuesday afternoon, 160 disaster incidents, including landslides, windstorms and flash floods, have been recorded in the Rohingya camps of Ukhia and Teknaf from the night of July 4 to the morning of July 7.

About 16,000 Rohingya have been affected, and more than 1,600 homes have been partially or completely damaged. A total of 3,182 Rohingya who are at extreme risk have been evacuated to safe shelters. Among the most devastated camps in terms of the number of people affected is Camp No. 5, where the madrasah landslide occurred today.

As the risk of landslides has increased due to the continued heavy rains, the camp and upazila administrations are regularly miking to encourage people living on the risky slopes to move to safe shelters.