Key Points
- Heavy monsoon rains starting in early July have triggered severe flooding and landslides in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee settlement.
- The disasters have claimed multiple lives, including children who drowned in floodwaters and five students who were killed in a landslide at an Islamic girls’ school on July 8th.
- Refugees, particularly newly arrived families, are facing extreme living conditions with flooded shelters, lack of electricity, and disrupted education.
- Community representatives are calling for immediate humanitarian aid, protective infrastructure such as retaining walls, and ultimately, safe and secure repatriation to Myanmar.
Full Transcript (English)
Host (Mohammed Zonaid): What you can see is the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. It has been raining heavily since July 2nd. According to the latest reports, more than 10 people were killed by landslides, and three others died by drowning in floodwaters. More than a dozen people have been injured, and thousands of families have been relocated to safer areas.
Right now, I am in the place where, as you can see, one of the landslides happened. Here, two children and two women were killed. At the same time, one of their family members was also injured.
Adu Rozook (Victim’s Father, Camp 11): On July 6th at around 12:40 PM, a landslide occurred. The children were rescued around 1:45 AM. One kid was alive, another was injured, and the rest passed away. Two of them were my grandchildren, and another two were my daughters. One of my daughters was unmarried. It was a mother and her two children.
I was at home. We were nine people in total at home. We were sleeping in our room. Our children were in another room. When the landslide happened, my children were screaming. I came out of the room and saw the landslide had happened. I came out of this room. We tried to lift up this bamboo wall. It was too heavy, so we called for help. People came and dug them out from underneath the dirt.
We came to Bangladesh in 2024. I used to live in Camp 12. Later, we moved to Camp 11. As we are newly arrived, we didn’t know that landslides happened in this area. I tried to complain to officials. They said they couldn’t help newly arrived people. We requested tarpaulins, but they rejected it. Five people fell under the dirt. One was alive. Out of nine family members, four were killed and five survived. My daughter and her two children died. Another daughter, who was registered on my data card, also died. We lost everything. We lost our food rations and dishes. We want to request a shelter as soon as possible.
Host (Mohammed Zonaid): Now I am in Camp 20 Extension, where a one-and-a-half-year-old child died by drowning in floodwaters on July 2nd around 2:00 PM.
Habiba Khatun (Victim’s Grandmother, Camp 20 Extension): The child died around the noon prayer time. The child’s mother was praying, and we had also gone inside the shelter to pray. During the prayer, the child went outside with other children. After praying, her seven-year-old child went to the pond to fetch water and saw the child floating. We took her to the hospital, but the doctor confirmed she was no more.
The shelter is like this. Water enters here. We can’t stay here. There is not even a place to put our feet. It is so challenging. It has become like a graveyard, but we have to live here. We are suffering a lot in the camp. There is no place to stand or sit.
Shafi Ullah (Victim’s Father, Camp 20 Extension): Children are getting sick with coughs and colds.
Host (Mohammed Zonaid): Behind me, you can see thousands of shelters are underwater. The entire camp is facing severe flooding.
Setara (Flood Victim, Camp 20 Extension): Water entered our tent. I have eight children—five girls and three sons. We can’t even cook because of the flood. We can’t sleep either. Still, we have to stay here because there is no other place to go. NGOs gave us biscuits and cooked rice. The situation in the camp is very bad, and we want to move to a safer place.
Host (Mohammed Zonaid): As you can see, children are facing difficulties moving to other places.
Mohammed Zaber (Rohingya Student): Due to heavy rain, my education was affected. The road was broken, so I can’t go to school. It keeps raining. There is no light, and we can’t charge our lights. Water entered our school, so students cannot go to school. I worry a lot when I go to school, thinking about whether my family members are safe from landslides. I can’t even study at home. If I can’t study, I can’t pass the exams. After finishing my studies, I want to be a teacher so that I can give a better education to the children in my community.
AK Mohammed Sadek (Rohingya CJ, Camp 5): On July 8th, after the noon prayer, a landslide occurred at an Islamic girls’ school. Several students died. Five students died, and eight were hospitalized, making a total of 13 casualties. The landslide occurred while the students were studying.
While the landslide happened, students were present. Students aged 10, 8, 12, and 15 were screaming, shouting “save us, save us.” People rushed to rescue them, risking their own lives to save the students. There are around 50 students in this school. Four or five students were absent due to illness, so there were 45 students when the landslide occurred. The landslide came from the north side of the school, and students managed to escape from the south side.
Mr. Kamal (Ro-FDMN RC Chairperson, Camp 1 East): After August 25, 2017, we fled the genocide by the Myanmar military and came to live here. This is not flat land; it is a hilly area, mostly sandy. People should not live on top of sandy hills because if a landslide occurs, those living below will also suffer. To avoid such disasters, humanitarian agencies should build retaining walls near the hills.
Ro-FDMN-RC is a community organization. We raise awareness about disasters, and our members support the community as much as they can. Other community organizations also try to help. Those who arrived in Bangladesh in 2017 try to protect their own lives, but newly arrived people do not have proper shelters and are living in temporary conditions. If agencies and authorities provide proper shelter, I hope the situation will improve.
Narrator: Before 2017, around 300,000 Rohingya refugees were living in Bangladesh after fleeing persecution in Myanmar, particularly during 1991 and 1992. In 2017, more than 700,000 additional Rohingya refugees arrived following a brutal military crackdown, creating the world’s largest refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar. Again in 2024 and 2025, nearly 200,000 more Rohingya fled to Bangladesh due to fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA). According to UNHCR, today there are around 1.2 million Rohingya refugees living across 33 overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar. Built on deforested hillsides, the camps are highly vulnerable to landslides, floods, cyclones, and fires. Every year, these disasters claim lives and destroy shelters. According to UNHCR data, around 300 Rohingya refugees have lost their lives due to natural disasters alone.
Mr. Kamal (Ro-FDMN RC Chairperson, Camp 1 East): In our Rohingya camps, there is no guarantee for the future. The ultimate solution is repatriation. If we can return to our homeland with our safety and security ensured, we can escape the hardships we face here, where landslides occur and children are dying by drowning in streams.
