A massive fire broke out at around 3:00 AM on 20 January 2026 in Camp 16, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, home to thousands of Rohingya refugees. The blaze destroyed 335 homes completely and damaged hundreds more, affecting over 2,000 people. Families whose homes were destroyed were forced to relocate to relatives or friends, losing all their belongings in the process. The fire spread rapidly through Blocks D2, D3, and D4, fueled by flammable materials like bamboo and polythene in the densely packed shelters, and also damaged critical facilities including latrines, bathing cubicles, water points, solar streetlights, learning centres, and mosques/madrasas.
Dipankar Datta, NRC’s country director in Bangladesh, highlighted the extreme vulnerability of Rohingya refugees living in makeshift homes that can be devastated by a single spark. He stressed that families deserve safety and dignity, but reconstruction is impossible without new funding. Survivors like Nur Mohammad described losing all their belongings and facing uncertainty about where to stay next. Over the years, fragile shelters have left refugees exposed to repeated fires, storms, and monsoon damage, affecting over 100,000 people and destroying more than 20,000 homes since 2018.
In December 2024, the Interim Government of Bangladesh approved three new semi-permanent shelter designs intended to reconstruct 50,000 safer homes across the camps. However, major humanitarian funding cuts announced in January 2025 halted these plans, leaving the response critically underfunded. Only half of the required funding for the Rohingya response was delivered in 2025, resulting in a $466.6 million shortfall. Humanitarian organisations warn that without sufficient funds, families remain trapped in shelters that cannot withstand fire, storms, or monsoons, and repeated destruction remains inevitable.
Humanitarian actors, including NRC, are providing emergency support with essential household items such as jerrycans, steel plates, cooking utensils, buckets, and dignity kits containing hygiene products. They are also planning to rebuild shelters and repair water and sanitation facilities. Datta emphasized the urgent need for donor support to resume construction of the approved semi-permanent shelters to prevent future tragedies and provide Rohingya families with safer living conditions.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, but its devastation highlights the ongoing risks faced by more than 1.14 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, many of whom have lived in temporary, highly flammable shelters since being displaced in 2017. Humanitarian experts warn that declining funding will continue to exacerbate vulnerabilities related to fire, overcrowding, and extreme weather conditions, making immediate action essential to protect lives and rebuild the community.
