WEB DESK
The US has announced an assistance of USD 152 million which is nearly Taka 1322 crore in new humanitarian assistance for close to one million Rohingya refugees and Bangladesh host communities, said a press release of the US embassy in Dhaka on Tuesday. This brings the total US assistance to the Rohingya refugee related work for Bangladesh to US 1.7 billion since 2017.
The announcement came after the visit of US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas to Cox’s Bazar where the majority of the Rohingya refugees are housed.
Ambassador Haas visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar to meet the local government officials and see how U.S. programs continue to assist Rohingya refugees and host communities. The US assistance is utilised for providing healthcare, training to fight fires in the camps, protecting the environment, strengthening climate disaster resilience, and providing secure food distribution for the Rohingya refugees.
The Ambassador met the local administrative officials at Cox’s Bazar and the officials looking after the relief and repatriation work in the area. He expressed satisfaction at the resumption of learning centres for Rohingya children in the camps.
The US has provided 450 mobile fire units and 3,000 20-litre firefighting backpacks to the camps to fire frequent fires in the area. It will also train 3,000 refugee volunteer firefighters to use and maintain the equipment, helping to prevent and respond to fires.
In Fiscal Year 2021 alone, the U.S. government spent nearly USD 302 million for the Rohingya crisis humanitarian assistance programs in Bangladesh