Bringing relief to Rohingya refugees

ON the eastern edge of the Bay of Bengal, between the winding course of the bottom reaches of the Bakkhali River and the sea, is a town called Cox’s Bazar. It is considered a tourist spot, one of the best-known destinations in Bangladesh. Today it is also the location of the Kutupalong refugee “mega-camp”. In August of 2017 Rohingya Muslims were driven from neighbouring Myanmar in huge numbers – 300 000 in 2 weeks, according to some estimates. Currently, according to Dr Janet Hall, an Australian emergency physician who has just returned from a stint with Red Cross, there are over 700 000 Rohingyas living in the camp. “These people are living in a very small area, in a really precarious position,” Dr Hall tells the MJA. “The problem with the camps is that they’re sitting on these deforested hillocks of dirt. The monsoon season is about to hit in April and May, and if there’s a cyclone it will be catastrophic. “They have said that anything on a 45-degree slope, with extensive rain, will slide. And what it’s going to slide into is the rice paddies and the water systems of the local inhabitants. So, it’s perhaps going to have significant impact, and not just for the refugees.” Dr Hall is an emergency physician based at Lake MacQuarie on the NSW Central Coast. Working overseas in disaster zones has always been one of her ambitions. “But partners, children – life happens,” she says. “A few years ago I made the decision that this was what I wanted to do. But I wanted to do it appropriately and make sure that what I was doing was right and with the appropriate people.” She completed her Masters degree in International Health through Monash University – “it gave me a great grounding in emergency response” – and has also enrolled for a second Masters degree, in Tropical Medicine and Public Health, through James Cook University.