Rohingya refugees in Bhasan Char island suffer under heatwave

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA): Ali, 24, willingly relocated to the remote Bangladeshi island of Bhasan Char from the mainland refugee camp nearly one-and-a-half years back.

Inspired by the lucrative offer of better living conditions and livelihood facilities, Ali, along with his pregnant wife, migrated to the concrete infrastructure developed by Bangladeshi authorities on the distant island in the southern Bay of Bengal.

But his happiness was short lived.

“Now after the unbearable heat wave has grasped us in this far flung island, life feels like a burden,” he shared over the phone.

Bangladesh is under the grip of a severe heat wave with the highest temperature recorded on Monday at 40.7 degrees Celsius in the country’s northern district of Rajshahi, the Met Department said.

Nearly 30,000 Rohingya Muslims seeking asylum against ethnic-religious persecution in Myanmar are currently living on the island after being relocated from the mainland refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the southeastern border district of Bangladesh.

Rohingya refugees — described as ‘the most persecuted community’ in the world by the UN — fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017.

Power outages

On the island, he says, they usually don’t have electricity.

The solar panels installed in the house provide them with electricity for a few hours every day.

“There is a ceiling fan and a light in every room in this concrete house fixed for each family. But in many rooms, those fans don’t work,” he said.

“My wife stays up most nights using a hand-made fan to blow air at my toddler son,” he said.

Other residents living on the island shared that they are exhausted by the heat on the island.

“Most parts of the night are spent standing outside our houses. And we get a few hours of sleep late at night,” said another Rohingya refugee, who did not want his name to be revealed.

Heat wave

Mohammad Tarikul Islam, a Bangladeshi official responsible for living arrangements on the island, said the houses have been designed keeping in mind the flow of air.

The heat wave is also causing serious suffering for the persecuted Rohingya living in 33 congested mainland camps in Bangladesh that are mostly made of tarpaulin sheets and bamboo without sufficient facilities for ventilation.

The refugees spend the days outside their congested makeshift tents due to heat.

The South Asian delta nation of nearly 170 million people has closed all primary schools for a week since Sunday due to scorching temperatures.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has revealed that nearly 40% of people in the camps in Bangladesh have scabies — 70% in some camps.