Major landslides have claimed the lives of at least 14 Rohingya refugees, including five children who were seeking shelter in a madrasa on Wednesday afternoon.
Nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded camps built on steep, landslide-prone terrain, where every monsoon season brings the risk of deadly landslides and flooding.
The IRC is supporting affected families alongside camp authorities and urges donors to scale up funding in order to help prevent future disasters.
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, July 9, 2026 — At least 17 people have died after heavy rains have caused major landslides in Cox’s Bazar, including 14 Rohingya refugees. On Wednesday, a landslide struck a madrasa in Camp 5, killing at least five children with fears for others who may remain trapped. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is supporting affected families as rescue operations continue.
Cox's Bazar hosts nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar, living in some of the most densely populated conditions in the world on hilly, erosion-prone terrain. Each monsoon season, landslides and flooding destroy shelters and claim lives across the camps, and recent reductions in humanitarian funding have strained the services families rely on to prepare for and recover from such disasters.
"Every monsoon season, families in Cox's Bazar are fearful that the ground beneath them will give way. The children sheltering inside a madrasa during Wednesday's landslide were in a place that should have been among the safest in the camp," said Subarna Barma, IRC Head of Emergency and Resilience in Bangladesh. “Families who fled unimaginable violence in Myanmar are now burying their children, while rescuers dig for those still missing.
“The IRC is working alongside the Government of Bangladesh, camp authorities, local partners and refugee volunteers to reach families hit by the disaster. But response alone is not enough. With the monsoon already deadly and an El Niño season raising the risk of further extremes, we are calling on donors and the international community to urgently step up funding for the Rohingya response by investing not just in relief, but in the things that save lives before the next storm hits, including safer sites, climate-resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and protection for refugees and their host communities alike."
Rescue operations are ongoing, led by the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department, with support from humanitarian actors and camp authorities. The number of casualties is expected to rise as search efforts continue. The IRC is continuing to deliver essential services, including psychological first aid and protection monitoring, alongside raising awareness among communities of landslide risks. The landslide underscores the dangers facing children in the camps, where families live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters on slopes that become unstable during the monsoon, and where safe communal spaces for children remain limited.
The IRC began responding to the Rohingya crisis in August 2017 and launched its response officially in March 2018. With over 400 staff in Bangladesh and operating across 33 camps across the division, our teams provide essential healthcare to the host community as well as Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar, as well as reproductive and maternal healthcare, child protection, education, prevention and response to Gender-Based Violence, and Emergency Disaster Risk Reduction (EDRR).