Fire at Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh displaces thousands of Rohingya

The camp houses more than one million Rohingya people who have fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar (Jessica Wanless, Norwegian Refugee Council via AP)

A fire has destroyed hundreds of makeshift homes and displaced more than 2,000 people in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, prompting calls from relief agencies for more funding to build safer housing and help provide emergency aid.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Tuesday in Camp 16, one of more than 30 camps in the Cox’s Bazar district that makes up the world’s largest refugee centre, housing more than one million Rohingya people who have fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.