UNHCR and partners built 1,573 latrines and 200 tube wells. This represents over 78,000 who have access to latrines and 100,000 who have access to water. UNHCR continues to lead the coordination among WASH actors at the field level in both Kutupalong (including in the extension site) and Nayapara, providing technical guidance and support to improve compliance with WASH standards.

Over the past 10 days UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has received reports of some 30 improvised rafts arriving from Myanmar, carrying more than a thousand people. Unable to pay for the crossing, refugees are building rafts from whatever material they can get their hands on – mostly bamboo poles and empty jerry cans tied together with rope and covered with plastic sheets. More than 200 Rohingya refugees are known to have drowned in shipwrecks and boat incidents since the start of the crisis on 25 August.

UNHCR is expanding its community outreach into the new settlements and makeshift sites by identifying and setting up networks of trained community outreach members (COMs) to strengthen two-way communication, follow-up on persons with specific needs, carry out community-led solutions, and engage in prevention.

According to WHO, diphtheria is “rapidly spreading among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar.” On 6 December, WHO warned that more than 110 suspected cases, including 6 deaths, have been clinically diagnosed by health partners, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). Diphtheria is a highly infectious respiratory disease that spreads through droplet and can be deadly, particularly in overcrowded areas with no proper sanitation system. WHO is working with the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), UNICEF, and partners to contain the spread of the highly infectious respiratory disease through effective treatment and adequate prevention. For its part, UNHCR immediately made part of the Rubber Plantation Transit Centre available to serve as a treatment and isolation facility for patients under MSF management. Sixty-eight patients were transferred on 9 December 2017. The outbreak has impacted the upcoming relocation of some 10,000 refugees currently in border areas in Bandarban district; their relocation will be delayed to allow for the vaccination of children.

The new school year has started. So far, 7,082 refugee children, from the registered camps and the new settlements, are enrolled in primary education. The Department of Primary Education has provided children in Kutupalong registered camp with National Curriculum Textbooks. While enrolment is ongoing, 22 sessions were organized to sensitize communities on the start of the school year and education more broadly. Over 300 refugees participated

Heavy rains from 23-25 July 2018 triggered landslides and flooding throughout Cox’s Bazar district. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 463mm of rainfall in under 24 hours on 25 July—the second highest recorded rainfall in one day for the district. Nearly 60 incidents of landslides, winds, floods, and waterlogging reported in all settlements on 25-26 July 2018, with 445 shelters damaged.

UNHCR called on the international community to step up its support for some 900,000 stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the majority having fled in August 2017. UNHCR urged renewed international engagement and support for refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, in order to expand the response from day-to-day lifesaving operations to also address challenges such as education and self-reliance for the Rohingya refugees.

A UNHCR-chartered Boeing 777 flew in this morning with 91 metric tonnes of aid, including much needed shelter materials, jerry cans, blankets, sleeping mats and other essential items. The aid will be delivered to the refugee camps at Cox’s Bazar in south-eastern Bangladesh. A second flight donated by United Arab Emirates (UAE) is scheduled to land at 14:15 this afternoon local time, bringing in some 1,700 family tents.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is deeply saddened by reports of a new shipwreck in the Bay of Bengal this morning in which at least four Rohingya refugees died when their boat capsized close to the southern Bangladesh shore. Others who were injured have been taken to local hospitals for immediate treatment.

Since Sunday night, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh through the Anjuman Para border crossing point in Ukhia district in the country’s south-east. Many say they had initially chosen to remain in their homes in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state despite repeated threats to leave or be killed. They finally fled when their villages were set on fire. The refugees UNHCR staff spoke to yesterday described walking for around a week to reach the Bangladesh border. Some crossed into the country on Sunday night, others throughout Monday in the heat and rain.