A fire in a densely populated and impoverished area in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka has burned or damaged 1,500 shanties, leaving thousands homeless, authorities say.
No casualties were reported as of Wednesday, a day after the fierce blaze broke out at the Korail shantytown. According to Rashed Bin Khalid, a fire department officer, it took 16 hours to douse the fire, which began on Tuesday evening.
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The fire service’s director, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, said about 1,500 ramshackle dwellings were burned or damaged in the blaze, and thousands became homeless. Heavy smoke blanketed the area as flames engulfed the environs overnight.
According to official data, some 60,000 families, many of them climate refugees, live in the area, which covers more than 65 hectares (160 acres).
The area straddles Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan and Banani neighbourhoods, and it is surrounded by clusters of high-rise apartment and office buildings.
On Wednesday, residents who lost their homes were desperate to collect their valuables as they scoured the debris. Firefighters said they struggled to reach the area because of narrow alleys.
Dhaka, a city of 10.2 million people as of 2024, has hundreds of shantytowns where people from rural Bangladesh migrate because of poverty and exploitation.
Climate-induced disasters also push them to the city’s poorest areas, where they live on low-paid daily labour such as driving rickshaws and working as housemaids and cleaners.
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