ROHINGYA refugees in Bangladesh are now having to cope with the monsoon season following their escape from ethnic strife in Myanmar.
Many of the 900,000 Rohingya migrants live in ramshackle huts but most still believe it is too dangerous to return to their former homes across the border.
Their mass exodus from Myanmar came after that country’s military launched a crackdown against the Muslim minority group but downpours are making conditions tough for migrants living in flimsy accommodation, often made from bamboo, amid the constant threat of mudslides.
One refugee, Mustawkima, abandoned her first shelter when the soil washed away.
With five children under the age of eight, she wanted her new home to be close to relatives living at the base of the hill, so she erected a flimsy tarpaulin halfway up. But when the rains began in June, the water quickly poured in, transforming her dirt floor into a muddy mess.
She says she hopes her relatives will protect her and her children when the worst of the rains arrive.
The most intense rains are expected over the next few months, though heavy downpours began pummelling the camps in June.
There have already been more than 160 landslides, 30 people injured and one toddler killed, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group, or ISCG, which oversees the aid agencies in the camps.
“Within 24 hours of the first rains falling, we were seeing small landslides and we were seeing flooding everywhere,” says Daphnee Cook, a spokeswoman for Save The Children.
The ferocity of the rains and the swiftness with which they can wreak havoc is stunning.
On a recent day, it took just minutes for a downpour to transform the face of another hill into a waterfall, with torrents of muddy water cascading down dirt steps.
Children are receiving identity bracelets in case they are separated from parents in the flooding.
Families have received extra materials to fortify their shelters and trenches have been dug to try to redirect floodwaters.
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