Türkiye's Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has taken action for the Rohingya Muslims who lost their homes in a fire at the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, a city in Southeast Asia's Bangladesh, in January.
As of Monday, Diyanet, which undertook the construction of 490 shelters, delivered completed shelters to 350 families. While the remaining shelters are aimed to be delivered to families within the next two weeks, the TDV Mosque, which became unusable due to the fire, is being rebuilt.
Oğuzhan Adsız, Diyanet's Bangladesh coordinator, stated in his remarks that they are working tirelessly for the reconstruction of the structures in the refugee camp. Adsız, emphasizing that they work in coordination with the Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management and the United Nations, said: "We will build 490 shelters as a foundation. We continue to use the trusts of our donors for our brothers here."
"Our shelter works are ongoing. Hopefully, before the (holy Islamic) month of Ramadan, we will complete our works and reunite the Rohingyas whose homes were burned with their homes," Adsız said.
Adsız stated that the shelters are 15 square meters (160 square feet): "These dimensions are given to us by the Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management. We build according to these dimensions."
He also mentioned that there was a mosque that burned down next to these shelters. "We will complete its construction before the month of Ramadan and make it ready for the first Tarawih prayer. Our brothers here will continue their prayers during the Ramadan month as they do in our other mosques."
"The Rohingya community is building these shelters. Because craftsmanship is very advanced here, especially bamboo can produce many different products. Their living spaces were more or less like this before the persecution in Myanmar. The only difference is that they do not have the fear of survival here. There is a safer environment here. There are police and soldiers in the camp," Adsız said.
"The whole world, especially Türkiye, is making every effort for Rohingya Muslims. Since 2017, we have implemented many projects from nutrition to housing, education, health and vocational training," Adsız added.
A madrassa teacher living in the Rohingya refugee camp said in his language: "We have experienced very difficult situations and came here. We live in very difficult conditions, we have difficulty in educating children. We have difficulty in finding food. Food is provided, but only enough to sustain our lives."
Expressing their desire to live in better conditions, the madrassa teacher said: "When the fire broke out, I was teaching at the madrassa. My children were here, and as soon as I heard about the fire, I came here. I saved my children and everything we had burned. We have nothing left. We are very thankful for our house being built."
In the fire that broke out on Jan. 7 in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, where Rohingya Muslims live; 1,200 settlements were damaged or completely burned. Approximately 7,000 Rohingya Muslims were left homeless.
