KATHMANDU, 19 November 2007 (IRIN) - Over 400 Bhutanese refugees in eastern Nepal whose homes were ravaged by fire last week are receiving aid, and materials to rebuild their homes, refugees told IRIN on 18 November.

The affected refugees at Beldangi I camp, which accommodates some 18,000 refugees, said they had lost all their belongings, including clothes, documents and money, when the fire broke out on 15 November.

Beldangi I Camp in Jhapa District, nearly 500km east of the capital, Kathmandu, is among seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal with a total population of 108,000, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

For the past 17 years Bhutanese citizens of Nepalese origin, known as Lhotshampas in Bhutan, have been seeking refuge in these camps after being forced out of their homes by the Bhutanese government which passed a law stripping them of citizenship due to their ancestry.

Nearly 430 refugees were left without a home after 68 huts in Beldangi I camp were burnt down. They are currently being accommodated in a school inside the camp, said refugee leaders. No refugee was hurt in the fire.

According to the UNHCR, emergency supplies and assistance have been provided to help the families meet their immediate needs and rebuild their houses. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been supplying food and cooking utensils.

"With all the challenges already facing the refugees, it is heartbreaking that so many families lost their homes and possessions," said Dominique Hyde, deputy country representative of WFP, Nepal. She said the humanitarian response had been swift.

Local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), business groups and ordinary citizens have also helped the affected families, according to refugees.

Lessons learned?

This is not the first time that fire has swept through a refugee camp in Nepal, and refugees insist that more could be done in terms of fire prevention.

"The camps are temporary settlements and obviously cannot be built with concrete and stone but we have to be very careful," said refugee Indra Timsina, a member of the Bhutan News Service in Beldangi.

This is the fourth fire in the refugee camps. The first was in 1997 when 54 houses were gutted and a child killed. Two incidents took place in 2006 when nearly 51 huts were destroyed and one person was killed.

All the refugee huts are built of bamboo with thatch roofs: a spark can cause a huge fire as the huts are packed together, refugees said.

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