As tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been forced to flee their homes in Burma's western Rakhine state, aid is desperately needed to provide them with simple necessities such as food and shelter. UN agencies estimate more than a quarter-million refugees have arrived on the border of Bangladesh in the last two weeks, joining at least 100,000 who were already there after fleeing earlier riots or persecution in Buddhist-majority Burma.

Many of the newly arrived were initially stunned and traumatised, but now charities urge that they are growing desperately in need of food, drink and somewhere to sleep.