Aid agency Oxfam is warning that as many as 70 per cent of the nearly half million Rohingya refugees that have sought shelter in Bangladesh do not have adequate shelter and half lack access to safe drinking water. Oxfam is urgently seeking to raise more than £5 million to deliver aid. The money is desperately needed so the agency can respond to flooding in the camps which have left refugees facing extreme hardship.
Rain causing problems
The rain in the region has meant that the building of emergency shelters and clean water tanks has slowed down, whilst some aid delivery has been delayed. Oxfam says it is seeing an unprecedented number of refugees seeking shelter in Bangladesh over an extremely short period of time. Paolo Lubrano an Oxfam representative in Bangladesh says it is extremely distressing to see the level of need amongst the people in the camps. He adds that people are living in makeshift tents as they seek protection from heavy rains. Tens of thousands of people have no food or clean water and if they are lucky they can take shelter under plastic sheeting. These people urgently require help.
Oxfam is providing assistance
Oxfam is doing its bit and has sent 15 tons of supplies including water pumps, lavatory construction kits and water tanks. The aid agency intends to send additional supplies. Since the end of August nearly half a million Rohingya have made their way to South-East Bangladesh and rather unsurprisingly this has caused a massive humanitarian crisis. It is estimated that as many as 340,000 do not have adequate shelter and a quarter million have no clean water.
Some people have been reached
Oxfam has managed to reach about 100,000 people with clean drinking water. The aid agency has built emergency toilets and delivered food rations and water pumps. Oxfam intends to scale up its response and reach a further 200,000 people. It is also providing assistance to the government and other humanitarian agencies to ensure newly built camps meet the required humanitarian standards.
Sexual violence needs to be prevented
The situation in the region is both chaotic and volatile. As a result, Oxfam is extremely worried about the exploitation of women and young girls. Other issues include health, privacy and hygiene for women, girls and nursing mothers. The aid agency says all measures possible must be taken to prevent any form of sexual violence.
