Monsoon preparedness and response has been a priority for MOAS in the Cox’s Bazar District, to mitigate risks and save lives.

The first MOAS Aid Station was launched in October 2017 in the fishing village of Shamlapur, while the second was opened in November 2017 to serve the remote settlement of Unchiprang; both are located in the Teknaf region of Bangladesh, close to the border with Myanmar. Our dedicated doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists treated over 90,000 people to the end of November 2018. Reflecting the huge number of children living in the refugee camps, over 40% of our patients were under 18.

Since 2019, MOAS has provided advice and consultancy services to international and in-country partners operating in the framework of Disaster Risk Reduction, in Rohingya refugee camps and host community areas. It was a cooperative endeavour by multiple disaster management organizations to coordinate relief activities and find alternative solutions to manage disaster situations. We focused on the Flood and Water Safety training, designed by MOAS to train a target population, and reduce the impact of aquatic disasters such as monsoons, flooding and cyclones.

Beneficiaries: Rohingya refugees, host community members, and fishermen in Cox’s Bazar region. 31% of the beneficiaries in the Rohingya population were female, and 48% in the host community.

The course was designed to improve capacity building in the community, training volunteers in:

• how to move safely within flooded environments;
• how to perform land-based rescues;
• how to use ‘throw bags’ to pull people in distress from the water;

Each volunteer was equipped with a MOAS throw bag. The project also provided livelihood opportunities to the host community, as all the throw bags are produced by local tailors.

In 2021, in response to the increase in the frequency and severity of fire outbreaks in crowded refugee camps, we developed innovative techniques and tools for Fire Safety and Response – to combat the danger posed by fires in refugee camps.

The volunteers learned how to stop the spread of fire and extinguish it, and thus save lives. They also learned techniques to use the specialised equipment effectively, to reduce the risk to firefighters and enhance their efficiency.

Our operational shift reflected the recognition that capacity building should be localised: refugee communities were equipped and supported to manage life-saving emergency response systems during disasters/emergencies.