Major fundraising appeal launched by UK charities for Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma

A major fundraising appeal has been launched to help the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence in Burma. The 13 member charities who make up the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) took action to step up their humanitarian relief in the wake of more than half-a-million people seeking medical care, food and sanctuary. The majority of those are Muslim ethnic minority Rohingya people, who have fled to Bangladesh amid atrocities and fatalities in Rakhine state, on Burma's western coast, following clashes between insurgents and security forces in recent weeks. The UK Government has pledged to match the first £3 million donated by the public to the DEC emergency appeal. A campaign video is due to be shown by all major UK broadcasters following the appeal's launch on Wednesday. DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: “People are arriving exhausted and traumatised into already overcrowded camps in Bangladesh. This is one of the fastest movements of people we have seen in recent decades. “Families are living in makeshift shelters or by the side of the road with no clean drinking water, toilets or washing facilities. This humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in a country that is already reeling from the worst floods in decades. “Without urgent support, the risk of disease and further misery is alarmingly high.”