Close to one million of the stateless Muslim minority live in the Cox's Bazar district but the new arrivals, stranded on unstable hills in bamboo and plastic shacks, are especially vulnerable. "We could literally have lives lost as people slide down hillsides and valleys are flooded with water," Kevin J. Allen, head of the UNHCR refugee agency's operations in Cox's Bazar, told AFP. Cox's Bazar has been battered by cyclones for three years running, having already suffered astonishing devastation in the past. - 'We will die' -Mosques and community centres could shelter 150,000 people if needed, said Kazi Abdur Rahman, acting district administrator of Cox's Bazar. Those left homeless or starving will have nowhere to run anyway: the Rohingya are encircled by military checkpoints and prohibited from leaving.

Source: Bangkok Post May 27, 2018 03:11 UTC