At least 18 people, most of them children, have been killed in a chain of monsoon-triggered landslides sweeping through the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh since July 6, 2026, with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reporting more than 3,000 people forced to flee their shelters.
The first wave of slides struck before dawn on July 6, when hillsides above Camps 7, 11 and 15 in the Ukhiya complex gave way while families slept. A married couple and their four-year-old son were buried in Camp 15; a woman and three children aged 13, 5 and 3 died in Camp 11; a seven-year-old boy was killed in Camp 7. Rescuers pulled five injured children from the mud in the hours that followed and continued searching for others feared trapped.
On July 8, a further landslide swept through a madrassa at one of the camps, killing at least five more children, and additional deaths in the surrounding hills brought the confirmed toll from the July event to at least 18. Hundreds of bamboo-and-tarp shelters were destroyed or damaged across the densely packed settlements, which host roughly one million refugees who fled violence in Myanmar.
Save the Children, which reported that seven children from its programs died in a single collapse, has expanded child-protection services, psychosocial support and temporary learning centres inside the camps. CARE is supporting emergency shelter and water and sanitation services, and the American Red Cross is contributing to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' response through the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, whose volunteers are running search-and-rescue and relocating families from the highest-risk slopes.
Rains are forecast to continue over Bangladesh through mid-July, and responders warn that further slope failures across the fragile, deforested hills are likely. To support families through this crisis, please visit the Rohingya Camp Landslides disaster page or browse the full Relief Directory for other ways to help.
