Attachments
Proceeding Summary
The Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, one of the largest refugee camp settlements in the world, is currently hosting more than 950,000 displaced people from Rakhine state of Myanmar. Considering the adjacent host communities, the total affected population stands at around 2.3 million people who are at risk of multi-hazard including cyclone, slope failure/landslides, flash flood, and fire. The humanitarian actors, jointly with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), have been responding to this critical situation since 2018, employing Joint Response Plan (JRP) where more than 100 partners are working towards increasing preparedness and reducing multi-hazard risks for the vulnerable communities.
Given the scope and complexity of the operation, it is important to involve all relevant stakeholders in participatory planning for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) efforts which will strengthen the collective readiness to respond and reduce the gaps and duplication between multiple agencies working in the 33 camps and affected host communities of Cox’s Bazar. One such collective effort is the ‘Stakeholder Workshop’, which has been held annually since 2018, taking into consideration the official cyclone season. Similar to earlier efforts, the seventh event was scheduled for September 23, 2023, in Cox's Bazar, with the participation of representatives from Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR), Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP), Deputy Commissioner’s (DC)
Office-Cox’s Bazar, Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), UN Agencies, Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement Partners and humanitarian agencies and key government department including Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD), Armed Force Division (AFD) and others.
In addition to the key guidance from the leadership of the participating organizations, concurrent technical discussion sessions were included in the workshop on relevant areas of multi-hazard preparedness and response, coordination mechanism and climate impacts in camp settlement and host community areas in Cox’s Bazar. A wide range of recommendations concerning the underlying issues on the ground and at the strategic level connecting multi-hazard preparedness, anticipatory action, and emergency response were identified and documented during the day-long event.
Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, which host around one million displaced people with compounding crises including disasters, require effective solutions. While it comes to durable solutions, the GoB advises that facilitation of safe and voluntary repatriation as well as effective advocacy are crucial in the wider humanitarian platform both at the national and international level, where UN, I/NGOs, and RCRC Movement Partners all can play a pivotal role.
The Rohingya refugee camps are distinct in terms of geography, culture and socio-economic status as compared to Bangladesh host communities. These distinct circumstances require continuous contextualization of the DRM efforts integrating indigenous practices to foster ownership and impact.
In the era of climate induced disasters, where frequency and occurrence are on the rise, the seasonal and area-based preparedness should be prioritized to make the current multi-hazard risk management effort even more relevant and time-bound.
In the host community, there are existing policies and institutional arrangements for effective DRM. However, many of them are still not well-known to the users; therefore, there is a need for socialization of existing policies/frameworks to better align agency led approaches with the national level.
Additionally, there is a need to assess the institutional capacity of the GoB and public facilities related to DRM strengthening national policy and framework to generate evidence-based information on the functionality and implications of resource allocation for further planning, to avoid arbitrary input and resource mobilization in Cox’s Bazar.
The relocation of families at risk during cyclones and landslides in the camps is challenging.
Practical actions, including proper mapping of Multi-Purpose Centers (MPC)s (which are currently under construction), identification of pre-existing facilities where people can stay, and accessibility of the facility list to camp level DMCs, can better facilitate these camp level emergency relocations.
Last year, the DMC guideline for the camps was approved by the RRRC which has enabled DMC members to be better prepared against multiple hazards. Response coordination is the next step where the comprehensive Capacity Sharing Initiative (CSI) will play a vital role across the 33 camps.
The local DMC members should be involved in conducting the Comprehensive Community Risk Assessment (CRA) to identify and develop Risk Reduction Action Plan (RRAP) for flood and landslide prone areas of Cox’s Bazar. Simultaneously, in line with the assessment outputs, an implementation strategy defining the roles and responsibilities of the actors including the Government, UN, RCRC, and I/NGOs, can be further developed for efficient preparedness and response efforts.
A Comprehensive Environmental Study was conducted in 2018. After five years of intensive interventions with investment in multi-hazard risk mitigation along with the environmental risk management, the situation has significantly changed. We should be documenting improvements for wider resource planning and execution, and, where necessary, revisiting the study findings to provide updated recommendations to actors.
A comprehensive Fire Risk Assessment is required for the camps, incorporating the notion of fire vulnerability, mapping of existing firefighting capacity, functionality of existing efforts, and wider awareness for preparedness and immediate response actions. This will support the evidence-based planning for fire risk mitigation and response.