UNHCR top official in Coxs Bazar to assess situation
Emergency response, preparations for Rohingyas ahead
of monsoon
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
UNHCR assistant high commissioner for operations George Okoth-Obbo is in Bangladesh to see the agencys ongoing response to the Rohingya emergency and preparations ahead of the monsoon season. He began his five-day visit meeting key Bangladesh government officials who are involved in the Rohingya response, including Md. Shah Kamal, secretary of disaster management and relief ministry, and foreign secretary Shahidul Haque, said a UNHCR press release yesterday.
The assistant high commissioner expressed his gratitude to the government and the people of Bangladesh for hosting close to 880,000 Rohingyas and reiterated the UNHCRs commitment to continue supporting and working closely with Bangladesh in all aspects, particularly to avert harm to people at shelter homes due to the monsoon.
It is a critical moment. We all must do everything necessary to prevent that a new disaster follows the painful experience that refugees have already lived, he said.
He is now in Coxs Bazar where he is visiting the main Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhia and reviewing the UNHCRs work on the ground.
It is estimated that 200,000 Rohingyas could be in danger of landslides and/or flooding, and the UN refugee agency and its partners have been working to try to mitigate the risks inside the settlements, as well as relocating families, who would potentially lose their homes due to landslides, to safer areas. Okoth-Obbo will also visit camp-4 extension where additional land was recently allocated by the Bangladesh government to help relocate Rohingya families mostly at risk of landslides when the monsoon hits.
Extensive work to prepare the hilly land was part of a joint initiative by the UNHCR, International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) under the interagency site management engineering project (SMEP). The UNHCR and partners are currently installing shelters and services on an initial 12 acres of newly-prepared land that could provide homes for nearly 500 families.
Okoth-Obbo will also be visiting other Rohingya settlements in Nayapara and Chakmarkul before he returns to Dhaka for the final commitments of his mission.
