Deadly monsoon destroys 5,000 shelters in BD Rohingya camps

BALUKHALI, Bangladesh: At least 10 people have died and thousands of shanty homes have been destroyed by monsoon rains in overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s southeast, officials said on Sunday.

Bangladesh’s meteorological department said the Cox’s Bazar district -- home to nearly one million Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar -- has seen at least 58.5 centimetres (nearly of rain since July 2.

An International Organisation for Migration (IOM) spokeswoman said heavy rains triggered mudslides in the refugee camps -- which are mostly built on hill-slopes -- destroying some 4,889 tarpaulin and bamboo shacks in the first two weeks of July.

More than 200 landslides have been reported since April in the camps, built near the border with Myanmar, and at least 10 people were killed, a UN report said, adding nearly 50,000 people have been affected. In the last week alone, two Rohingya minors died and another 6,000 people were left without shelter because of heavy rains.