by Hafizur Rahman
Cox’s Bazar | August 5, 2026
A six-year-old Rohingya girl was killed on Wednesday when a landslide struck her family’s shelter in Camp 13 in Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar, according to local sources.
The child was identified as Nunaijia, daughter of Jomir Hossain. The incident occurred at approximately 1:00 p.m. in Block F-5 following continuous heavy rainfall in the area.
Residents said rain had weakened the hillside behind the family’s shelter. A section of earth and rocks reportedly collapsed without warning, crashing onto the structure and killing the child.
Local community members gathered at the site following the incident and expressed condolences to the bereaved family.
According to community sources, the family fled violence in Arakan State and arrived in Bangladesh in 2024. They had been living in Camp 13 for nearly a year before Wednesday’s landslide.
The death has renewed concerns about the safety of Rohingya families living beside unstable hills and slopes across the camps.
Many shelters in Cox’s Bazar are constructed from bamboo, tarpaulin, and other temporary materials in densely populated areas where drainage is inadequate and land suitable for safe construction is severely limited. Prolonged rainfall can saturate the soil, destabilise slopes, and cause earth to collapse onto shelters with little warning.
Children, older people, persons with disabilities, and families living closest to steep slopes face particularly serious risks during the monsoon season.
Residents called for urgent inspections of shelters in landslide-prone areas, relocation of families facing immediate danger, stronger retaining structures, improved drainage, and faster emergency responses during periods of heavy rain.
The incident follows several deadly landslides in the Rohingya camps during the 2026 monsoon season. In July, landslides and flash floods killed multiple Rohingya residents, including children, and forced authorities and humanitarian agencies to move families away from some high-risk locations.
Despite repeated warnings, many families remain in dangerous areas because of severe overcrowding, insufficient relocation space, and limited resources for constructing safer shelters.
The death of the six-year-old girl in Camp 13 underscores that landslides are not isolated natural accidents. Their consequences are intensified by congested camp planning, fragile shelters, unstable terrain, inadequate protective infrastructure, and the prolonged confinement of more than one million Rohingya refugees in temporary settlements.
