UN to seek $1.0b for Rohingya refugee effort in Bangladesh

UN officials said Sunday that nearly $1 billion will be needed this year to feed and care for the roughly one million Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps in southeastern Bangladesh, reports AFP.

The $950 million for this year's aid effort was "a very legitimate and valid" request given the magnitude of the crisis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh said.

"It's a new and evolving crisis. The needs are huge. These people came with nothing. We hope the support will continue," the UN country head Mia Seppo told the news agency.

The funding request could be raised this week at a UN conference in Geneva.

Food, shelter and healthcare remain pressing needs for the Rohingya, who fled a Myanmar army crackdown in Rakhine state en masse over the past six months.

But there are other urgent considerations. As the monsoon season nears, aid groups need to relocate an estimated 100,000 refugees living in areas prone to landslides and floods, Seppo said.

The UN-backed Inter Sector Coordination Group has also factored into the relief budget the cost of mass vaccination drives against diseases like cholera, diphtheria and measles, the group's head Sumbul Rizvi said.