In Photos: Refugees Expand Camps Around Cox’s Bazar

Since 25 August last year, about 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar to escape a fresh wave of violence in Rakhine state. The majority are now living in makeshift camps near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. They joined more than 300,000 refugees who were already in the country having fled previous attacks and harassmentp

‘Dr Ripon’, as he is known, opened a shop in the informal Balukhali refugee camp four months ago. He sells drugs and other medical items to treat allergies, fever and asthma, which he says are common complaints in the camp. Ripon, 44, is Bangladeshi and, when he’s not manning the shop, he’s a senior area manager for a drug company. He says he opened the shop ‘to help Rohingya people’ and makes only a small profit from his sales. He can check blood pressure, and refers people to medical centres if he can’t help them

Nurulamim, centre, fled the violence in Rakhine state in August. The 45-year-old, pictured with his daughter, Rokeya, 12, travelled to Cox’s Bazar with his wife and five children. His brother was killed in Myanmar. To supplement the family’s rations of rice, oil and gram lentils from the World Food Programme, he sells corn on the cob. He makes about 200 to 300 Bangladeshi takas a day (£1.70-£2.60). ‘The rations are not enough to feed the family, so we are doing this,’ he says. He would like to return to Myanmar, but, he says, ‘I want to stay here because I’m not going to find peace there’