Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh could die due to a lack of food, shelter and water available for the huge numbers of them fleeing violence in Myanmar, the Save the Children aid agency has warned.
Nearly 410,000 Rohingya have fled from western Rakhine state to Bangladesh to escape a military offensive that the United Nations has branded a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
"Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food or water," Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director for the Save the Children aid agency said in a statement.
"I’m particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need.
"If families can’t meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could be lost."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Bangladesh has for decades faced influxes of Rohingya fleeing persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where the Rohingya are regarded as illegal migrants.
Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 Rohingya before the latest crisis erupted on 25 August, when Rohingya militants attacked police posts and an army camp.
Mr Pierce said the humanitarian response needed to be rapidly scaled up.
"That can only be done if the international community steps up funding," he said.
Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the Myanmar security forces and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes responded to the 25 August insurgent attacks with what they say is a campaign of violence and arson aimed at driving out the Rohingya population.
Myanmar rejects this, saying its security forces are carrying out clearance operations against the militants of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which claimed responsibility for the August attacks and similar raids in October.
The Myanmar government has declared the group a terrorist organisation and accused it of setting the fires and attacking civilians.
Bangladesh border guards have said the flow of refugees leaving Myanmar had eased off over the past day, apparently because bad weather had discouraged people from taking to boats to reach Bangladesh.
Heavy rain over the weekend turned roads into mud, with countless Rohingya putting up shelters with bamboo and plastic sheets beside them.
"People are living in these muddy, awful conditions. You have to get them to some sort of space where aid can be delivered," said Chris Lom, of the international Organisation for Migration.
"Clean water and sanitation can only be delivered in a structured environment."
Bangladesh is planning a camp for the new arrivals but Mr Lom said it was unclear how long it would take to build.
"It all depends on the resources the government throws at it and the resources we throw at it."
There is no sign that violence has stopped in Myanmar, with smoke, apparently from burning villages, seen as recently as Friday, meaning more refugees are likely to cross.
Human Rights Watch said satellite imagery showed 62 Rohingya villages had been torched since the violence erupted.
Myanmar says more than 430 people have been killed, most of them militants, and about 30,000 non-Muslim villagers have been displaced.
Myanmar government leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of criticism from abroad for not stopping the violence.
She is due to make her first address to the nation on the crisis on Tuesday.
