The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has said a total of 370,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine state since August 25.
“The increase in the estimated total is a result of more interagency assessment teams being able to reach more villages, hamlets and pockets where refugees have gathered,” UNHCR said in a statement today.
This is a significant rise from the UN Migration Agency, IOM’s estimate that 313,000 Rohingyas have arrived in Bangladesh between August 25 and September 10.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR began flying in emergency relief materials for the Rohingya refugees.
A UNHCR-chartered Boeing 777 flew in with 91 metric tonnes of aid from UNHCR’s global stockpile in Dubai, including much needed shelter materials, jerry cans, blankets, sleeping mats and other essential items.
The cargo has been loaded onto trucks which will bring the aid to the refugee camps at Cox’s Bazar in south-eastern Bangladesh, UNHCR said today.
A second aid flight, donated to UNHCR by United Arab Emirates (UAE), is scheduled to land at 2:15pm this afternoon local time, bringing in some 1,700 family tents.
“The two emergency flights are meant to meet the immediate aid needs of some 25,000 refugees. Further flights are being planned, ultimately delivering emergency aid for some 120,000 refugees in total,” said UNHCR.
Source: The Daily Star
