With the monsoon season arriving and forecasts for widespread rain over the coming days, IDP camp managers and lawmakers are expressing concern about the adequacy of accommodation at the temporary settlements in Arakan State, where more than 150,000 people are displaced.

The early hours of April 24 brought the first sustained downpours of the year in some Arakan State townships, and the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has forecast scattered thundershowers for the days ahead.

Because the tents that constitute shelter at most IDP camps are made of tarpaulin, refugees are likely to face difficulties as the weather becomes more inclement, said Ko Khaing Myo Aung, the in-charge of the Nyaung Chaung IDP camp in Kyauktaw Township.

“It was a small rain [on April 24] and so there was no problem; however, there are many refugees at our camp and it could face difficulty if it gets heavy rain as we don’t have enough accommodation for the refugees,” he said.

Besides housing concerns, basic tasks like cooking will be made more difficult for IDPs as the seasonal rains become a daily occurence, said U Oo Tun Win, the Pyithu Hluttaw MP for Kyauktaw Township.

Fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) has persisted since early December 2018, displacing tens of thousands of civilians across several Arakan State townships. With some temporary dwellings erected in the early days of the conflict and others simply not made to last more than a few months, there is a need to fortify many structures or scrap them and rebuild from scratch, according to camp inhabitants.

Making life more difficult for these IDPs, humanitarian assistance is constrained by security forces in Arakan State that are prone to suspicion.

“People who come to help us are detained and investigated. So, donors face difficulty donating to us,” said Ko Khaing Myo Aung of the Nyaung Chaung camp. “I want to call on the government to allow international organisations and other organisations to access and provide freely even if the government itself is not able to deal with this matter.”