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Inside Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps where fire continues to shape the existence of refugees

March 3, 2026

The Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, have experienced over 2,400 documented fires between May 2018 and December 2025, destroying more than 20,000 shelters and affecting over 100,000 people. These fires are not merely accidents but result from structural conditions including extreme overcrowding, flammable building materials, and narrow pathways that prevent effective emergency response. Armed groups operating within the camps have increasingly weaponized fire as a tool for territorial control, with investigations revealing planned arson attacks amid escalating violence that saw killings rise from 22 in 2021 to 90 in 2023.

Who is affected

  • Nearly one million Rohingya refugees living in Cox's Bazar camps
  • Specific individuals like Mohammad Ali (Disaster Management Unit volunteer who lost his home in March 2021), Rasheda (42-year-old mother of five who lost everything in January 2024), Omar Khan (35-year-old teacher in Camp 5), and Nurul (Block C resident in Camp 11)
  • 45,000 refugees displaced and 15 people killed in the March 2021 Camp 9 fire
  • Approximately 5,000 refugees, including 3,500 children, displaced by the January 2024 Camp 5 fire
  • 12,000 people displaced by the March 2023 fire caused by planned sabotage
  • At least 1,500 students who lost access to education in January 2024
  • Humanitarian workers and organizations including IOM, Save the Children, and CARE Bangladesh
  • Community leaders like Htway Lwin and camp authorities managing the settlements

What action is being taken

  • Volunteers and workers are clearing debris from blackened ground following fires
  • Humanitarian organizations are providing emergency shelter materials, non-food item kits, water trucking, medical services, and food distributions
  • CARE Bangladesh is incorporating dedicated fire safety sessions into shelter upgrade and maintenance modules
  • Humanitarian actors are training volunteers, positioning fire extinguishers, and conducting awareness campaigns
  • Police are telling residents to be watchful and conduct night patrols in response to threats

Why it matters

  • This situation represents the transformation of a refugee crisis into a "permanent crisis infrastructure" where vulnerable populations face predictable, recurring disasters engineered by policy decisions rather than chance. The fires expose how political considerations—Bangladesh's refusal to treat the settlements as permanent—prevent implementation of life-saving solutions like fire-resistant construction and adequate spacing, condemning refugees to repeat cycles of catastrophic loss. The increasing weaponization of fire by armed groups, combined with structural vulnerabilities and security barriers that trap people during emergencies, creates a deadly paradox where populations are contained but not protected. The situation reveals fundamental failures in the international humanitarian system, which optimizes emergency response theater while leaving root causes unaddressed, perpetuating suffering for nearly one million people indefinitely warehoused in conditions that virtually guarantee recurring tragedy.

What's next

  • No explicit next steps stated in the article

Read full article from source: Global Voices