Improving Resilience in Bangladesh's Refugee Camps

UNDP's response to the Rohingya Refugee crisis

December 12, 2019
Every year, coastal communities in Bangladesh are affected by monsoon flash flooding and cyclone season storms. In Cox's Bazar, over 339,000 people are now covered by local contingency plans developed with support from UNDP, EU and SDC.

The climate and topography of Cox’s Bazaar creates an environment where local communities are exposed to multiple natural hazards, and experience recurring extreme weather events. Vulnerable Bangladeshi communities in the district have long borne the brunt of cyclones, landslides and flash floods. The Rohingya crisis has increased the size of the population at risk and is driving the creation of new risks due to deforestation, hill-cutting, and infrastructure pressure. To support government and humanitarian actors’ efforts to manage the seasonal and extreme weather events associated with the cyclone and rainy season, UNDP's programme focuses on strengthening Disaster Risk Management in Cox’s Bazar.

More than 900,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. They now live in some of the most disaster-vulnerable refugee camps in the world.

UNDP's support has been made possible with generous funding from the Swiss Agency For Development And Cooperation (SDC) and European Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO). 

Visit UNDP in Bangladesh to find out more about this project and national Disaster Risk Reduction efforts. 

Reducing the Risk of Disasters in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh