The 'floating' island that has refugees terrified

Updated

A disappearing island, cyclone season and 100,000 Rohingya refugees with nowhere else to go. What could go wrong?

In the Bay of Bengal, a tiny silt island has emerged.

Formed from sediment washed down from the Himalayas, it is most commonly called Bhasan Char ("floating island").

It is three hours by boat from the coast of Bangladesh, but heavy seas in the monsoon season often leave it cut off from the world.

The island has existed for barely a decade, but it is already washing away, eroding at half a kilometre per year.

Even in land-poor Bangladesh, the cyclone-lashed island has been uninhabited, used only for fishing or occasionally grazing cattle.

But within a few weeks, it could be home to over 100,000 Rohingya refugees.

'A prison for the Rohingyas'

Maung Maung Soe, 23, is one of more than a million Rohingya Muslims who've fled Myanmar and sought shelter in Bangladesh since mid-2017.

The UN have said their persecution in Myanmar may amount to genocide, but now, Maung Maung Soe has a new fear.

As early as mid-April, the Bangladesh government hopes to begin transporting some 100,000 refugees to the flood-prone island to ease pressure on its overcrowded camps at Cox's Bazar.

"We Rohingya are so worried about the government's plans," says Maung Maung Soe.

"Bhasan Char will be like a prison for the Rohingya."

The island, which covers 52 square kilometres, has been floated as a mid-term solution for a few years.

With a small city hastily constructed, it appears the government is serious.

According to architectural plans, this "first phase" of construction will house 104,000 refugees.

While tidal channels criss-cross the island, a flood defence system is supposed to protect the camp.

Whether it will work remains to be seen.

Photographs, footage and architectural drawings hint at how the refugees will live.

It looks as though each family will share a 3.6 metre by 1.2 metre concrete room with barred windows in a "family house" designed for 16-25 families.

The roughly 64 people in each "family house" appear to share two kitchens and one toilet block.

Family houses are grouped in clusters, sharing a cyclone shelter between them.

'There are a lot of rumours flying about'

Mozammel Huq, the head of Bangladesh's Cabinet committee on law and order, has rejected concerns expressed by UN human rights experts who visited Bangladesh in January.

"It is up to Bangladesh to decide where we will keep the refugees," he told the AFP.

State Minister for Disaster and Relief Management Md Enamur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune in March that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had requested the relocation of 23,000 Rohingya families to Bhasan Char by April 15.

"Housing, power, communication, healthcare, storm surge protection, cyclone shelter centres and every other facility is there", he said.

More recently, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told the Dhaka Tribune the government wasn't sure when it would be possible to relocate the Rohingyas and if they would even be willing to go.

Many aspects of Bangladesh's plan remain unclear, both to humanitarian workers and the refugees themselves.

"Refugees are finding out through the media like everyone else, and there are a lot of rumours flying around about what might happen," says Jessica Olney, a community engagement consultant working in Cox's Bazar.

Mr Quinley says the Rohingya are terrified of moving to the isolated island.

"I have been told by refugees that they would rather die than move there.

"They're worried about flooding, and lack of freedom of movement. Once they're on the island it will be very difficult to get back to the mainland, especially during monsoon season."

Isolated and dangerous

Bhasan Char's environmental risks and isolation are a dangerous mix. It is likely that any major flood event or cyclone would be accompanied by rough seas and bad weather, making the island inaccessible by boat or helicopter for days at a time and also potentially cutting off communication channels.

It's unclear how — or where — enough food would be stockpiled for 100,000 people during a sustained period of isolation, or what would happen if there was contamination to the water supply. The camp is expected to depend largely on rainwater collection and underground tanks. There are concerns the underground tanks themselves could also contribute to destabilising the island.

Whether Bhasan Char is actually habitable remains contentious.



A feasibility study commissioned by the Bangladesh government found the island was flooded by 1-1.3 metres of water during high tide in monsoon season.

The study welcomed the refugee relocation plan "as Bangladesh is a land scarce country", but did not recommend that Bangladeshis should live there after the refugees leave, saying the island should be used for crops and fisheries.

For Maung Maung Soe, this is concerning.

"Bangladesh has a big population, so my question is why the Bangladesh people haven't moved there?" he says.

"If Bhasan Char is safe for living on, why won't Bangladesh's people go?"

Bangladeshi authorities insist the camp will be protected from the sea by the flood defences being built by British company HR Wallingford.

"HR Wallingford is continuing to provide ongoing consultancy for the development of Bhasan Char," the company said in a statement.

"This includes design advice on coastal defences which would ensure long-term stability of the island, including resilience to the effects of sea level rise."

The company did not respond to specific questions about whether they had conducted any independent assessment of the flood risk, what sized waves the embankment was expected to protect against or whether any measures had been taken to protect against erosion or subsidence.

A 'dead island'

In a statement, the UN said that it "appreciates the Government's efforts to seek alternative locations" for refugees to live, and that it is in discussions with the government over protection and operational issues which should be considered before the relocation takes place.

A spokesperson for UNHCR did not provide answers to specific questions about whether UNHCR had conducted any independent assessment of the habitability of Bhasan Char for the number of people who would be moved there under the plan.

The UN statement emphasised that relocation must be an informed voluntary choice.

The Bangladesh government says that relocation to the island will be done on a voluntary basis, but a leaked document seen by Reuters shows the World Food Programme has been asked to help select families to move.

Bangladesh's last attempt to encourage voluntary movement of refugees, in that instance back to Myanmar, was accompanied by the presence of the army, police and paramilitaries in refugee camps.

"I worry that the 'voluntariness' that the UN speaks about could turn into coercive consent and Rohingya will be left with few options," says Mr Quinley.

Maung Maung Soe witnessed the last attempt at voluntary relocation.

"A few months ago when the Myanmar government and Bangladesh government tried to deport the refugees to Myanmar, some Rohingya drank poison and tried to kill themselves," he says.

"I'm afraid it could happen again if they try to make people move."

According to Maung Maung Soe, the government has been telling refugees that if they go to the island, they will be given cows and paddy fields, and 50,000TK (about $845 AUD) per month.

There is no sign on satellite imagery of preparations being made for farming, or how the farms themselves would be protected from Bhasan Char's volatile environment.

The Forestry Department, which has been planting mangroves in an attempt to stabilise the island, estimates that at least 5000-7000 acres of forest have disappeared into the sea since the program began.

The offer has failed to sway most Rohingya.

"The situation for us in Cox's Bazar is very bad, but Bhasan Char will be worse," says Maung Maung Soe.

"For the Rohingya, we say Bhasan Char is a dead island."

The Bangladesh Navy, who are managing the relocation, did not respond to requests for comment.

Elise Thomas is a freelance journalist and cybersecurity researcher with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Credits

Words: Elise Thomas

Images: satellite images courtesy Planet Labs, NASA and Google, sourced by Nathan Ruser with design by Emma Machan; Reuters; AP

Video: Mr Nurul Amin (YouTube), edited by Teresa Tan

Editor: Annika Blau

Topics: refugees, immigration, world-politics, bangladesh

First posted