UNHCR to assess emergency response, monsoon preparations

Visiting UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Operations George Okoth-Obbo on Tuesday visited Rohingya camps to review UNHCR's work on the ground, assess emergency response and monsoon preparations, reports UNB.

The Assistant High Commissioner visited the main Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia sub-district and reviewed UNHCR's work there.

"It is a critical moment", he said in a statement. "We all must do everything necessary to prevent that a new disaster follows the painful experience that refugees have already lived."

It is estimated that 200,000 Rohingyas could be at danger of landslides or flooding, and UNHCR 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, said UNHCR.

Okoth-Obbo will also visit Camp 4 extension where additional land was recently allocated by the Bangladesh government to help relocate families most at risk of landslides when the monsoon hits.

Extensive work to prepare the hilly land was part of a joint initiative by UNHCR, IOM and WFP under the interagency Site Management Engineering Project (SMEP).

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 refugee settlements in Nayapara and Chakmarkul before he returns to Dhaka for the final commitments of his mission.

He arrived in Dhaka on Sunday on a five-day visit, to see the agency's ongoing response to the Rohingya refugee emergency and preparations ahead of the monsoon season.