Samuel Payne
This research presents an analysis of the quality of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene(WASH) facilities across two subcamps of the Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh; and comparing the results to the population needs, and UN reccomendations within the camp. As the largest Refugee Camp in the world, it is essential to understand whether the needs of the population are being met, and whether UN guidelines are being followed. The importance of adequate WASH facilities is well documented, with poor sanitation a contributor to disease, causing numerous follow on effects. By conducting a GIS spatial analysis within the refugee camp, it is possible to understand which areas of the camp are having their needs met, and locate areas which may not be receiving the same level of attention.
Samuel Payne
Spatial analysis of the WASH facilities within two subcamps of the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp, Bangladesh
Setting the scene
Setting the scene
With a population of around 900,000 people in an area 13km2, the Kutupalong is the largest refugee camp (by population) in the world. Located on the Teknaf Peninsula in Eastern Bangladesh, the refugees living in the camp are predominantly Rohingya, having fled neighbouring Myanmar. The Rohingya have faced persecution and abuse in Myanmar since 1948, however a military crackdown from 2016-present has displaced the largest numbers of the population.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) implementations and facilities are essential in refugee camps, as if facilities are inadequate, disease and death can quickly spread through camps. Adequate WASH facilities though is attributed to an all-round improvement in quality of life. There are however important safety factors to be taken into consideration with WASH facilities such as :
- Are there inside locking doors on the facilities?
- Is there lighting in the facilities?
- Are washrooms and latrines gender separated?
These three factors being present in WASH facilities has been proven to increase the safety of camps and reduce the level of Gender Related Violence.
Figure 1. The location of the Kutupalong Refugee Camp within Bangladesh, and the two study subcamps
The study
This short Vox video gives some more background to the Rohingya crisis, whilst the video below gives more detail on WASH implementations
The research carried out investigates the safety features of WASH facilities within the Kutupalong Refugee Camp, and how these features relate to the population distribution. Due to the size of the camp, to subcamps were chosen to study. These were the original, Kutupalong Refugee Camp (red) and the expansion Subcamp 17 (green).
Washrooms and latrines were ranked into 'high', 'medium' and 'low' quality based upon the number of the three safety features (locking doors, lighting, gender separation) they had. Facilities with 0 or 1 features were ranked low quality, 2 features were medium quality, and washrooms/latrines with all three were ranked high quality.
WASH facilities were mapped aginst the buildings in the two subcamps and compared to the UN Post Emergency Targets for WASH facilities:
- A maximum of 200m from households to safe and functional water collection points;
- Less than 100 people per usable water collection point;
- A maximum of 206 people per toilet/latrine and per bath shelter/shower;
- No household should be further than 50m from a toilet or washroom.
Left: Buildings within the Kutupalong Refugee Camp (Amnesty International)
Right: An aerial view of a section of the Kutupalong Refugee Camp (Lowy Institute)
Results
The number of buildings within 50m of low/medium/high quality latrines is represented in the maps below and is colour coded. Brown buildings are not within 50m of a facility, red buildings are within 50m of a low quality facility, orange buildings within 50m of a medium quality facility, and green buildings within 50m of a high quality facility.
Scrolling over the maps compares the difference between the Kutupalong Refugee Main Camp, and Subcamp 17.
Large disparities exist between the two camps in their connectivity to different WASH facilities. The high number of brown (hence unconnected) buildings in the Kutupalong Main Camp highlights this, compared to the high number of connected buildings in subcamp 17. However, across both camps, there is a distinct lack of high-quality latrines and washrooms, shown by the lack of green buildings in the first two maps.
When taking into account the camp populations, this results in 95.45% of the population being within a 50m distance of a washroom, latrine and water point in subcamp 17, compared to 23.45% of the population in the Kutupalong Main Camp. When planning for future WASH implementations by humanitarian workers ina the Kutupalong Refugee Camp, an analysis such as this could be used, to understand which areas of the camp require WASH facilities more urgently. Throughout all three of the above facilities, there appears to be a lack of connection to WASH facilities throughout the Northern area of the Main Camp, this therefore is an area that further implementations may be required.
References
Abdelkader, E. (2013). The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar: Past, Present, and Future. Oregon Review of International Law (2014 Forthcoming). Available at SSRN: HTTPS://SSRN.COM/ABSTRACT=2277949
Baghri, S. and Reed, R. A. (1998). Emergency sanitation in refugee camps. IN: Pickford, J. (ed). Sanitation and water for all: Proceedings of the 24th WEDC International Conference, Islamabad, Pakistan, 31 August – 4th September 1998, pp.23-26.
Bhatia A., Mahmud A., Fuller A., Shin, R., Rahman, A., Shatil, T., Sultana, M., Morshed, K. A. M., Leaning, J., Balsari, S. (2018). The Rohingya in Cox's Bazar: When the Stateless Seek Refuge. Health and Human Rights Journal, 20(2), pp. 105-122.
Emery, M., Shaw, M., Santosa, L, Bird, O. (2011). Recommendations to reduce sexual violence in Haitian internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. New Voices in Public Policy, George Mason University.
Johnston, R., Prüss-Ustün, A, Wolf, J. (2019). Safer water, better health. World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland, ISBN 978-92-4-151689-1
Milton, A. H., Rahman, M., Hussain, S., Jindal, C., Choudry, S., Akter, S., Ferdousi, S., Mouly, T. A., Hall, J., Efird, J. T. (2017). Trapped in Statelessness: Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 942. HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.3390/IJERPH14080942
Slide 1 image (max 2mb)
Slide 1 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 1 Caption
Slide 2 image (max 2mb)
Slide 2 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 2 Caption
Slide 3 image (max 2mb)
Slide 3 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 3 Caption
Slide 4 image (max 2mb)
Slide 4 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 4 Caption
Slide 5 image (max 2mb)
Slide 5 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 5 Caption
Slide 6 image (max 2mb)
Slide 6 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 6 Caption
Slide 7 image (max 2mb)
Slide 7 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 7 Caption
Slide 8 image (max 2mb)
Slide 8 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 8 Caption
Slide 9 image (max 2mb)
Slide 9 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 9 Caption
Slide 10 image (max 2mb)
Slide 20 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 10 Caption
Caption font
Text
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)