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Fire safety in Cox’s Bazar (May 2019)

Countries
Bangladesh
+ 1 more
Sources
WFP
Publication date

Since August 2017, over 745,000 refugees from Myanmar have crossed into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, bringing the total refugee population to close to one million. The overcrowded camps coupled with and high-risk bamboo usage for construction, mostly untreated, and cooking fuels, heightens the vulnerability to fire incidents.

To mitigate these risks, the Government of Bangladesh, along with UN organizations and NGOs have taken essential measures to ensure fire safety for refugees and host populations. These measures include trainings on safe use of cooking fuels, deployment of safety volunteers across the camps, as well as the implementation of a consolidated response mechanism enabling rapid action in case of fire hazard.