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For Rohingya muslims fleeing to safety from the violence in Myanmar, torrential downpours are now adding to their plight.
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With Crisis Worsening, 370,000 Rohingya Muslims Escape to Bangladesh
Heavy rains are causing more upheaval, with refugees living in flooded temporary shelters, many of which are located in parts of Bangladesh's border town of Cox’s Bazar. The region has seen an 8 centimeters of rain within 24 hours and is expecting more over the coming days.
According to Unite Nations figures, since 25 August, 409,000 Rohingya have arrived in Cox’s Bazar after Myanmar launched operations against in Rakhine state following attacks on police outposts.
An estimated 60 percent of those who arrived in the border town are children.
The Bangladeshi authorities have issued new orders restricting the movement of the Rohingya. The order even prohibits them from taking shelter with friends and relatives.
But Dhaka has announced the building of 14,000 new shelters, each housing six families over the next ten days to help the crisis.
The Bangladeshi government say they'll move tens of thousands of people, currently seeking refuge on the roadside and shanties to Balukhali camp..
“We are shifting them from the roadsides where many of them have been staying,” Khaled Mahmud, a government spokesman, told AFP.
“Those who fled the villages made their way to the other country for fear of being arrested as they got involved in the violent attacks. Legal protection will be given to the villages whose residents did not flee,” the government’s Information Committee said in a statement.
Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, will be asking the UN General Assembly in New York next week for more help to cope as well as to put more pressure on Myanmar.
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