Too Many People : Refugee Influx Worries Bangladesh Town

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) - On the miles-long beach that makes this Bangladesh's top tourist destination, thousands of people picnic and splash in the water. There are balloons and cotton candy for the kids, fried snacks and tender coconuts for the rest. Families sit under umbrellas. Young couples find quiet moments.

Travel just 25 miles (40 kilometers) south past lush green paddy fields lining the coast and a different scene emerges.

Vast areas are now entirely taken over by a sea of makeshift bamboo and plastic tents. These are homes for many of the more than 430,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh with stories of terrible persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, Bangladeshis crowd an tuk-tuk on a street with a billboard in appreciation of Bangladesh's prime minister Sheikh Hasina for sheltering Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Vast areas in this coastal district are now entirely taken over by a sea of makeshift bamboo and plastic tents, homes for the more than 430,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled here with stories of terrible persecution in Myanmar. The new arrivals spill out of the existing refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

The new arrivals spill out of refugee camps for Rohingya that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. But no previous exodus has been as enormous as the one that began a month ago on Aug. 25, when the latest convulsion of violence erupted in Myanmar.

Refugees flooded unceasingly across the border during the first three weeks as Myanmar troops embarked on what they called "cleansing operations" to target Rohingya insurgents after a series of coordinated attacks on dozens of police posts in Rakhine state.

The United Nations described it as "textbook ethnic cleansing."

The tide of refugees has slowed to a trickle for now, but they still come by land and by boat on the Naf River, which runs between Myanmar and Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Most are starving and sick.

Residents of Cox's Bazar have helped with relief efforts like handing out food and water. But with so many new arrivals and the prospect of more to come, they are growing nervous about the future.

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A colorful bazaar known as the Burmese market sits at the entrance to the beach, among the longest unbroken stretches of sand in the world.

Shopkeepers are almost all Bangladeshi, but the stores are packed with goods from Myanmar. Several are devoted pungent, dried fish. In others sit boxes of tamarind paste and packets of candy and peanuts.

The closeness to Myanmar - or Burma, as people here still call it - has meant that tastes and language have mingled for generations. Most people understand the dialect of the Rohingya, and the linguistic similarities only grow further down the coast near the border.

That doesn't mean locals accept the new arrivals gladly.

"We are becoming a minority in our own place," complained Arshad Khan, a 28-year-old shop owner.

"They are not educated at all. They can't live together with us," said fellow shop owner Rashidul Islam. "They start fights and quarrels all the time," he added - though he acknowledged he has never been in an argument with refugees himself.

It's crowded and dusty outside a row of hotels. Open drains crisscross the streets. Garbage sits piled on street corners.

There are few cars, but the traffic is chaotic - a crush of cycle rickshaws, tuk-tuks and two-wheelers. The biggest predators on the roads are smoke-belching, horn-blaring buses that are packed to bursting point.

Cox's Bazar, named after an 18th Century official in the British East India Company once posted to the area, isn't rich by any means. Apart from tourism, which mostly attracts Bangladeshi visitors, small businesses and government jobs are the main sources of income.

People worry what the population explosion will mean will mean for the already low wages many Bangladeshis here count on.

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The roads between the refugee camps are utter bedlam now, noisier and more chaotic than ever before.

SUVs rush aid workers up and down the highway. Motorcades of government officials - their car lights flashing and sirens blaring - arrive to inspect the camps regularly.

Knots of refugees run after any vehicle that slows down in the hope of getting a few taka (pennies) or something to eat.

Balukhali camp, recently created to house the newcomers, is a shanty town of black plastic roofs propped on bamboo poles as far as the eye can see. Inside each is only the sparest of personal belongings: pots, plates and cups, a bag or two of clothes and a plastic nghe voi mat ong to sleep on.

There was no running water at first, leaving children to fill nghe ngam mat ong plastic bottles from muddy drains.

Things are slowly improving. Aid agencies deliver massive plastic containers of drinking water, and a few public toilets have been erected. Most camps now have medical workers visiting regularly.

It's hardly enough, but it's a start.

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Aid agencies say the scale of the flow caught them off-guard and left them scrambling to scale up relief efforts quickly.

"We would hire new staff and by the time that was done a hundred thousand more people had come," said Suchismita Roy, a spokeswoman for the aid group Action Against Hunger.

Now a rudimentary order is beginning to emerge.

Bangladesh's government has begun giving refugees biometric identification papers to help with distributing aid and medical assistance. Around 10,000 people now have laminated ID cards with their photographs, fingerprints and a bar code. Thousands more line up to get papers each day.

And slowly, the rhythm of life in these camps is changing.

Local Bangladeshis, worried as they are about the sheer number of newcomers, are finding that within slum life too there are spaces for commerce.

But there's a dark side to conducting business, with slum lords charging refugees at least 2,000 taka ($24) for space to build a shelter.

Still, other businesses have sprung up. Small booths sell food and cigarettes, as well as little packets of spices and dried fish. There's even a market for cosmetics and cheap costume jewelry.

The most inspired business idea, though, belongs to a 25-year-old local man who gave only his first name, Jalal. He's set up a shop to charge cellphones for 5 taka (6 cents) a pop.

With no electricity in the camps, his business is booming.

At the beach, the heart of Cox's Bazar, life remains largely untouched by the influx of Rohingya refugees down the coast. Tourists and residents are sympathetic to their plight, but worried too.

"They are our Muslim brothers. Of course I feel bad," said Khan, the shopkeeper. "But it's too many people. There's no place here for so many people."

In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, local coconut vendors wait for customers near Cox's Bazar beach in Bangladesh. On the miles-long sea beach that makes this coastal district Bangladesh's top tourist destination thousands of people picnic and splash in the waters. About 40 kilometers south, along an often scenic coastal road and lush green paddy fields, vast areas are now entirely taken over by a sea of makeshift bamboo and plastic tents, homes for the more than 430,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled here with stories of terrible persecution in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Bangladeshis walk on the beach at sunset in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. About 40 kilometers south, along an often scenic coastal road and lush green paddy fields, vast areas are now entirely taken over by a sea of makeshift bamboo and plastic tents, homes for the more than 430,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled here with stories of terrible persecution in Myanmar. At the beach, the heart of this coastal district, life so far remains untouched by the influx, perhaps because the actual plight of the refugees is several kilometers away. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, a Bangladeshi family enjoys the sunset at Cox's Bazar beach in Bangladesh. On the miles-long sea beach that makes this coastal district Bangladesh's top tourist destination thousands of people picnic and splash in the waters. About 40 kilometers south, along an often scenic coastal road and lush green paddy fields, vast areas are now entirely taken over by a sea of makeshift bamboo and plastic tents, homes for the more than 430,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled here with stories of terrible persecution in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, a Bangladeshi boy sells costume jewelry at Cox's Bazar beach in Bangladesh. The colorful street market at the entrance to the beach, which locals happily inform you is the longest sea beach in the world, is called the Burmese market. The close geographical proximity to Myanmar or Burma, as people here call it, meant that for generations tastes and language have mingled. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 photo, a newly arrived Rohingya poses for an identity photograph during a biometric identification process by Border Guards Bangladesh members in Kutupalong, Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has started a process of providing the Rohingya refugees with biometric identification papers to help with distributing aid and medical help. Around 10,000 people now have plastic laminated ID cards, with their photographs, finger prints and a bar code. And each day thousands more are now lining up to get papers. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, Bangladeshi men sit on an embankment and watch the sun set at a beach in Cox's Bazar area, Bangladesh. On the miles-long sea beach that makes this coastal district Bangladesh's top tourist destination thousands of people picnic and splash in the waters. About 40 kilometers south, along an often scenic coastal road and lush green paddy fields, vast areas are now entirely taken over by a sea of makeshift bamboo and plastic tents, homes for the more than 430,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled here with stories of terrible persecution in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, newly arrived Rohingya Muslims beg on the road between Kutupalong and Cox Bazar, Bangladesh. The new arrivals spill out of the existing refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. And local people, who continue to be involved in relief efforts like handing out food and water, are now starting to get nervous about the future with such a massive refuge population in their midst. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, dozens of cellphones charge in a makeshift shop for a price of five taka (US$ 0.06), in Lambashia, near Kutupalong. Local Bangladeshis, worried as they are about the sheer numbers of the newcomer Rohingya Muslims, are finding that within slum life too there are spaces for commerce. Slum lords are charging Rohingya refugee a few thousand takas for space to build a shelter. The most inspired business idea here though belongs to Jalal, a 25-year-old local man who has set up the shop to charge cellphones. With no electricity in the camps his business is booming. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, newly arrived Rohingya Muslims walk past bundles of bamboo poles used to make tents at Lambashia, near Kutupalong, Bangladesh. The new arrivals spill out of the existing refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. But no previous exodus of Rohingya Muslim refugees has been as enormous as the one that began a month ago on Aug. 25. when the latest convulsion of violence erupted in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 photo, people lay bricks to build a pavement at a new Rohingya settlement in Lambashia, near Kutupalong. The new arrivals spill out of the existing refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. But no previous exodus of Rohingya Muslim refugees has been as enormous as the one that began a month ago on Aug. 25. when the latest convulsion of violence erupted in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Sept. 24, 2017 photo, Rohingya Muslims build new shelters in Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh. The new arrivals spill out of the existing refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. But no previous exodus of Rohingya Muslim refugees has been as enormous as the one that began a month ago on Aug. 25. when the latest convulsion of violence erupted in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Sept. 24, 2017 photo, newly arrived Rohingya Muslims stand next their new shelters in Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh. The new arrivals spill out of the existing refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. But no previous exodus of Rohingya Muslim refugees has been as enormous as the one that began a month ago on Aug. 25. when the latest convulsion of violence erupted in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017 photo, newly arrived Rohingya Muslims sell wood in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh. The new arrivals spill out of the existing refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims that have existed in this border district since the 1990s. But no previous exodus of Rohingya Muslim refugees has been as enormous as the one that began a month ago on Aug. 25. when the latest convulsion of violence erupted in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)