Bangladesh Army has begun building 14,000 new shelters to house 84,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees camping in Cox's Bazar, an official said on Saturday 2,000 acres of land have been allocated In Balukhali area of Ukhia, for building 14,000 sheds for 84,000 refugees.
Inter Service Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) director Lt Col Rashidul Hasan told the daily Observer Bangladesh Army has also began distributing relief goods while actively participating in rehabilitating Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh army is jointly working with the local administration.
According to the UN nearly 420,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25 after fleeing a military crackdown launched by Myanmar's military in response to attacks by Rohingya rebels.
Bangladesh authorities said that they would build a massive refugee camp on a 2,000 acre land (800 hectare) at Cox's Bazar's Kutupalong district.
"Still a lot of people are staying on the roadsides and in open space. Some have managed to erect a tent, others just sleeping under the open sky. The next danger, he warned, could be a health epidemic as at least one Rohingya boy had died of diarrhoea. The authorities must move quickly before it becomes an epidemic" says an UN official.
UN officials acknowledge they were taken by surprise by the scale of the exodus. The UN's International Organization for Migration has said it will form a group of all UN agencies and private groups to coordinate aid work.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh would offer the refugees temporary shelter and aid, local people and different aid agencies would provide relief for Rohingya refugees. But they need pure water, sanitation and shelters.
Since August 26, the administration, donors and NGOs have built 26,000 sheds in 12 slums in Ukhia and Teknaf for the refugees, who entered Bangladesh to flee persecution in Myanmar.
Mobile courts have, meanwhile, arrested and punished 212 for extorting and swindling the refugees, the DC added. Twenty-two special police teams are working on maintaining law and order in the Rohingya settlements.
Eleven check posts run by police and border guards are preventing the refugees from spreading across the country. The check posts have intercepted 5,119 Rohingyas and sent them back to the camps in Ukhia and Teknaf, DC said.
