Rohingya refugees who are escaping massive persecutions and violence of Myanmar saw the evolution of their care from IOM (International Organization for Migration).

They provided temporary accomodation for refugees in emergency situations. Camps saw an important upgrade in this sense: seventy buildings have now been completed under the first phase of the project, supported by the European Union (EU), offering shelters for over 4,500 people.

This improvement will allow IOM shelter and site management teams to provide a higher protection for refugees in case of landslide, floods, bad weather or other natural disasters.

The community representative Mohammed Nur assures that if weather conditions turn bad and storms destroy shelters, people from the area will be able to stay there safely for a few days.

Then there will be a second phase of upgrade that will see the construction of further 100 buildings will undergo improvements, funded by the UK. Once completed, the 170 strengthened structures will be able to accommodate 10,000 people with urgent shelter needs. The facilities will also serve as temporary accommodation for families whose shelters need to be repaired or completely rebuilt in the coming months.

The Emergency Coordinator in Cox’s Bazar, Manuel Pereira affirmed that IOM and partners have provided over 100,000 households with materials to help them upgrade their own shelters. But weather and environmental conditions in the camps mean tens of thousands of families live with the knowledge that their shelters could be damaged or destroyed at any time.

Having stable and safe building is very important for these people in case of natural disaster threat, because this way we are still able to offer them a safe haven even if people are living in very uncertain conditions. The EU funding was provided by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) under a consortium project implemented by IOM, the German Red Cross, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The Disaster Risk Reduction consortium was established to mitigate against disasters among refugee and local communities affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis.