GENEVA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency on Monday called for ramped-up support to an estimated 436,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh last month, while commending the Bangladeshi government and people for their hospitality.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the refugees' situation remained desperate, and that the humanitarian assistance efforts could suffer a dramatic deterioration if aid is not rapidly stepped up.
Grandi was on a visit to Kutupalong Refugee Camp and other border areas where refugees made their own shelters on tiny slivers of land. Despite outpouring of support from the local community, "the massive influx of people seeking safety rapidly outpaced capacities to respond, and the situation has still not stabilized," he said.
The UNHCR has so far airlifted three planes loaded with relief items into the country, and is distributing emergency shelter kits, kitchen sets and solar lamps. An organized site with water, sanitation and other facilities has been set up to register new arrivals. Other international agencies and NGOs are also on the ground and playing an important role.
Grandi arrived in Bangladesh on Saturday and has visited the area around Cox's Bazar, where the UN refugee agency has been supporting the government in running two official camps since 1992.
Over the years, the number of registered refugees in the two camps has fluctuated and now stands at some 33,000. Before the latest influx, there were also an estimated 300,000 unregistered Rohingya refugees living in the area who fled Myanmar over the years.
"Solutions to this crisis lie within Myanmar," Grandi said, "but for now, our immediate focus has to be to dramatically increase support to those who are so desperately in need."
According to UNHCR, a crackdown in late August by Myanmar's army in response to attacks by Rohingya militants has pushed vast numbers of refugees from the stateless Muslim minority across the border.
The violence has incubated a humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border, and put intense global pressure on Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi to condemn the army campaign.
