| The situation
80,000 people in Myanmar (also known as Burma) have been displaced by recent clashes in Rakhine State in Burma, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
According to government reports, the majority of those fleeing are of Rohingya ethnicity. The UN regards the 800,000 Muslim Rohingyas living in the northern Rakhine State of Myanmar as some of the most persecuted people in the world.
Our response
Islamic Relief is working in Rakhine State distributing emergency food to families and have improved the sanitation facilities through the construction of latrines in a camp near Sittwe Township.
As well as continuing emergency food distributions, Islamic Relief also has plans to construct shelters for families that have been displaced in the recent troubles, so that they can move out of their current tents.
Islamic Relief’s past work in Myanmar
Islamic Relief has worked with the Rohingya community before, constructing an entire village for 10,000 unregistered Rohingya refugees in 2008 in Teknaf, on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
We worked with the European Commission to build household shelters, water supplies, sanitation facilities, community centres and a health clinic. We gave relocated refugees – many of whom had been sleeping along river banks and on the roadside – a safe place to live and basic facilities, without threat to their health and security.
Islamic Relief also provided rapid emergency relief in 2008, when Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar. We distributed food parcels, emergency shelter, hygiene kits and water to thousands of families. We didn’t stop there – we helped communities get back on their feet by building new homes, reconstructing schools and supporting farmers and fishers to get their livelihoods back.
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