The United Nations is appealing for nearly $1 billion for the humanitarian crisis sparked by the flight of about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh since August.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Friday that "urgent funding is required to meet life-saving and acute humanitarian needs of refugees, as well as affected host communities."

He says the appeal for $951 million aims to assist 1.3 million people, including 884,000 Rohingya refugees, tens of thousands of others who fled to Bangladesh previously and 336,000 Bangladeshis until the end of this year.

Haq says over 16 million litres of safe water are needed every day for the Rohingya refugee population and 12,200 metric tons of food are required every month to sustain the refugee population.