Humanitarian needs rise

As displacement continues in Myanmar's Rakhine State, the humanitarian and protection needs of the Rohingyas arriving in Bangladesh also rise, said UN Migration Agency IOM in its latest report.

"New arrivals are living in spontaneous settlements with increasing need of humanitarian assistance, including shelter, food, clean water, and sanitation,” it said.

“Poor road networks and insufficient drainage in the displacement sites make it difficult to reach new arrivals with urgent support."

Since August 25, an estimated 607,000 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Rakhine, increasing the total Rohingya population in Cox's Bazar to 820,000, according to the UN agency. 

It said on Friday that some 4,000 Rohingya people crossed over into Bangladesh at the Anzumanpara border point over the past 48 hours.

Traumatised, hungry and fearing for lives, they had camped out in the open in an area of no man's land between the two countries. They crossed at low tide where they were met by Bangladeshi border guards.

Early Thursday morning, the Rohingyas, many of them vulnerable women and children who had been walking for days, entered Cox's Bazar assisted by the border authorities. Some 1,400 crossed to a transit area to be registered.

Overnight, a further 2,000 fleeing Rohingyas reached the crossing point and were assisted by the Bangladeshi authorities.

"Most people I talked to have walked for eight to ten days, getting to the border where they have waited up to four days to cross," said IOM Press Officer Olivia Headon. “They said they had nothing to eat or drink after the first few days."

She added some arrivals expressed their desire to find family members who had already crossed into Bangladesh, where first responders from various humanitarian agencies provided food and water.

Several Rohingya explained they had hoped to leave Myanmar sooner, but had to wait to harvest and sell their grain to raise funds for their journey, Headon explained. "One man told me he had to pay someone to carry his elderly mother."