At least 44 people have died in monsoon floods and landslides across southeastern Bangladesh, with over one million stranded as of July 11, 2026. Seven districts are affected, and hundreds of thousands of households remain cut off by water, with damaged roads and power lines slowing aid.
The highest-risk zone is Cox’s Bazar, where about 930,000 Rohingya refugees live on steep, deforested slopes. Landslides there killed 16 earlier this week, most women and children. The camps were already known to be among the world’s most disaster-exposed settlements.
Sixteen Rohingya refugees, most of them women and children, were killed this week by landslides in the overcrowded camps of Cox’s Bazar. The slopes they lived on were steep, the soil already saturated. The rain that loosened them was heavy but not unexpected — monsoon bands had been forecast for days.
The camps house about 930,000 people, most in makeshift shelters on hills stripped of tree cover. For years, aid agencies and the UN have warned that these settlements sit in the path of predictable disaster. Over a million people across seven districts are now stranded by the floods. But the 16 deaths carry the sharpest warning. They are not an accident of weather. They are the product of exposure that was mapped, modelled and left unaddressed.
The exposure was already priced into the risk models
About 930,000 Rohingya refugees are registered in camps under UNHCR’s mandate in Cox’s Bazar, according to the agency’s operational data. Most live on steep, erosion-prone slopes in just a few square kilometres of deforested hills. During the 2024 monsoon, floods and landslides displaced around 1.3 million people across the region and destroyed or damaged 20,000 shelters in the camps. That was a warning.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has described these camps as among the world’s most disaster-exposed refugee settlements. He has called for sustained investment in safer shelters and slope stabilisation — a call that has been repeated each monsoon without a full answer.
For a mother in Camp 4 Extension, a heavy downpour triggers an immediate decision: gather children, move to open ground, hope the slope behind the shelter holds. The rains in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar this month have already exceeded 300 mm in 24 hours in some locations, well above historical averages, according to weather monitoring reports. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warns that climate change is turning seasonal hazards into chronic emergencies. The International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka argues that Bangladesh is now in an era of “loss and damage” where adaptation alone cannot keep up.
Specialists at icddr,b, the Bangladesh health research institute, note that post-flood spikes in waterborne diseases — cholera, diarrhoea, hepatitis A — are a predictable consequence. Standing water and damaged latrines have already been reported in several camps and flooded neighbourhoods.
| Country | Current rule | New rule | Effective date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | National Adaptation Plan (NAP, 2022) prioritises flood-resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and climate-resilient housing in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar. | World Bank Country Partnership Framework commits over US$500 million for embankment upgrades and urban drainage. | 2022–2027 |
The plans are mapped. The funding is committed. The question that persists is why they have not yet reached the ground fast enough to stop the same slopes from taking more lives.
The money is pledged, but the slopes are still bare
Bangladesh’s Delta Plan 2100 and its National Adaptation Plan lay out a long-term framework for flood control and climate resilience. The World Bank’s US$500 million package aims at embankment upgrades and urban drainage systems. Yet assessments by the International Centre for Climate Change and Development and the World Bank itself show that current funding remains far below what is needed to shield high-risk districts and the densely populated refugee camps from escalating monsoon extremes.
No agreement exists on where to move the camps. Both the host government and donor nations avoid the cost and complexity of permanent settlement. The political sensitivity around relocation, combined with local land conflicts, keeps the policy frozen. Until adaptation finance translates directly into safer, relocated shelters, the same slopes will claim more lives. The question is not whether the next monsoon will come. It is whether anyone will have acted before it does.
Beyond the headline
The Human Cost
For families in hillside settlements and refugee camps, these floods are not a one-off shock but the latest in a series of crises that erode savings, education and mental health. Children miss weeks of school, pregnant women struggle to reach clinics, and those living on informal labour see entire income streams vanish whenever roads, markets and construction sites are cut off by water and mud.
The Bigger Picture
This disaster illustrates how densely populated, low-income regions are becoming test grounds for the global climate regime: they absorb recurring losses while waiting for promised adaptation and loss-and-damage finance to materialise. Bangladesh’s experience shows that even countries with strong disaster management capacity cannot keep pace when urbanisation, deforestation and rising seas interact with more volatile monsoon systems.
What Isn’t Being Said
Much of the official narrative focuses on immediate relief — food packets, water distribution, temporary shelters — while sidestepping why so many people remain in high-risk locations year after year. Political sensitivity around Rohingya camp relocation, local land conflicts, and the interests tied to cheap, hazard-prone housing mean that deeper questions about planned retreat, safer resettlement and accountability for repeated exposure rarely reach the forefront of public debate.
The story’s unfinished sentence
With more monsoon rains forecast, and the response still focused on emergency delivery, three groups face specific decisions.
- For those who want to help
Direct donations to the UNHCR Rohingya refugee response portal or the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund fund immediate shelter reinforcement and water purification in the camps. The UNHCR site lists current needs and partner NGOs; the IFRC page guides how cash assistance is deployed after severe monsoon floods.
- For climate adaptation professionals
The scale of this year’s flooding confirms that Bangladesh’s National Adaptation Plan remains underfunded. The World Bank’s $500 million commitment has not closed the gap. Tracking disbursement timelines and project completion in high-risk districts is now as important as tracking the rainfall.
FAQ
What conditions are like inside government flood shelters?
Bangladesh’s cyclone and flood shelters, often built on raised plinths and doubling as schools, become overcrowded during severe floods, with limited privacy and strained water and sanitation facilities. Priority is given to women, children and the elderly, but reports from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief indicate services vary widely by district.
How do international donations actually reach flooded communities?
Cash donations usually flow through UN agencies, the IFRC or large international NGOs with existing Bangladesh operations. These bodies convert funds into food, water purification tablets, hygiene kits and shelter materials, then work with local partners and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society to distribute items in affected unions and upazilas. Donors can often earmark contributions for specific emergencies.
What is the risk of disease outbreaks after floods like these?
Health agencies warn that standing water and damaged latrines raise risks of diarrhoeal diseases, cholera, hepatitis A and dengue. In Bangladesh, surveillance teams monitor symptoms at clinics, while campaigns promote handwashing and safe water storage. Rapid deployment of mobile health units and maintaining vaccination coverage are key to containing any spread.
Explainer
- Rohingya
- A Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine State, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled to Bangladesh since 2017 following large-scale violence and persecution. Stateless in Myanmar and unrecognised in Bangladesh, they live almost entirely in refugee camps. The camps in Cox’s Bazar are among the world’s largest and most densely populated, with over 900,000 residents exposed to annual monsoon hazards.
- Cox’s Bazar
- A coastal district in southeastern Bangladesh, home to the Kutupalong-Balukhali expansion site — the world’s largest refugee settlement. The terrain is a mix of low-lying floodplains and steep, deforested hills that become highly unstable during monsoon rains. Most Rohingya camps in the district sit on these hills, making landslides a recurring threat during heavy downpours.
- National Adaptation Plan (NAP)
- Bangladesh’s principal climate adaptation strategy, submitted to the UNFCCC in 2022. It identifies flood-resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and climate-resilient housing in districts such as Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar as urgent priorities. Implementation remains heavily dependent on international climate finance, which so far covers only a fraction of the estimated needs.
- Delta Plan 2100
- A long-term integrated water and land management framework adopted by Bangladesh to address flooding, river erosion and climate risks through 2100. It proposes major embankment upgrades, sustainable land use and disaster preparedness across the country’s delta region. Funding relies on a mix of domestic resources and multilateral support, with large gaps remaining in the highest-risk areas.
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