The United Nations has appealed for nearly one billion dollars for the humanitarian crisis sparked by the flight of about seven hundred thousand Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh since August last year.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that urgent funding is required to meet life-saving and acute humanitarian needs of refugees.

He said over 16 million liters of safe water is needed every day and more than twelve hundred metric tons of food are required every month to sustain the refugee population.