Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh on 'precarious ground' ahead of monsoon season

Aid workers tending to Rohingya refugees fromMyanmar are ramping up preparations in the weeks beforethe start of monsoon season, amid warnings that makeshift shelters in their Bangladeshcampscould be destroyed by mudslides and flooding.

Myanmar's panel of international advisers on issues concerning the Rohingyarecently warned thatthe season, which beginsin earnest in June and runs until October,could bring "enormousdeaths," becausethe refugee camps are not built towithstand the rainstorms.

Daphnee Cook with Rohingya Response at Save the Children visited a campinthe border town of Cox's Bazarin southern Bangladesh on Friday to inspect the damage after pre-season heavy rainshit on Wednesday, and she spoke to CBC's Joan Leishman. Listen to the full interview below:

CBC's Joan Leishman talks to Save The Children's Daphnee Cook about Rohingya crisis

6 years ago

Duration 10:21

First heavy rains hit Rohingya camps as monsoon season nears

Cook said a swath of forested land was rapidly cleared to make room for the camps last year and when she met with the refugees this week, some reported their homes were destroyed after just one day of heavy rain.

"People are living on very precarious ground ... and the expectation is that at least 200,000 people are at direct risk of either being flooded out or [forced out by] landslides," she said.

Some 700,000RohingyaMuslims have crossed into Bangladesh since a military crackdown on the minority group last August.

Most now live inflimsy, bamboo-and-plastic structures perched on hills aroundCox's Bazar. Deforestation means the land is less stable in wet conditions.

Cook said monsoon preparations include some of the following measures:

• Distributing shelter upgrade kits that containlarge,sturdybamboo stakes, extra tarpaulins and ropes.
• Improving drains and bridges.
• Reinforcing hillsides with sandbags.
• Providing identification braceletsfor children to help themreunitewith their families should they become separated during a heavy storm.
• Relocating families to safer places within the camps.

"It's basically entering a new phase of misery for many of these people, but also particularly for the children," Cook said.

"They're the ones who are maybe not as resilient as their parents. They're the ones who are more likely to succumb to diseases that will become more prevalent with the rains, things like watery diarrhea and skin diseases," she said.

Cook said Cox's Bazarcould be inundated with up to three metres of rain over the three months of the monsoon season. She said once the mid-season rains arrive, there is typically a downpour every day until the end of August.

"We are at this time in a race against time, warned KobsakChutikul, head of the Myanmaradvisory group, speaking at a news conference in Singapore earlier this month.

"There will be enormous deaths if all parties do not move to some understanding on repatriation, on aid," he said.

Cook said it's "extremely optimistic" to say there will not be a loss of life once the heaviest stormshit.