The United Nations has appealed for aid to tackle a humanitarian crisis unfolding in southern Bangladesh, where the number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar has neared 300,000.
The United Nations has appealed for aid to tackle a humanitarian crisis unfolding in southern Bangladesh, where the number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar has neared 300,000.
UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Robert Watkins said on Sunday that the wave of traumatized refugees was “showing no signs of stopping” in the Cox’s Bazar region. The area has already helped thousands of people displaced by previous spasms of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
“It is vital that aid agencies working in Cox’s Bazar have the resources they need to provide emergency assistance to incredibly vulnerable people who have been forced to flee their homes and have arrived in Bangladesh with nothing,” Watkins said.
On Saturday, Watkins said in a statement that aid agencies needed an urgent $77-million assistance to cope with the emergency.
According to the UN, 294,000 refugees have fled to Bangladesh since August 25, while tens of thousands more are believed to be on the move inside Rakhine after more than a fortnight without shelter, food, and water.
