Thousands of families sheltering from violence in the Far North are living without food and water, UN official said and appealed to the world for assitance.

“Families on the run often survived brutal attacks and face severe trauma,” Toby Lanzer, the UN regional humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel, said in a statement, after visiting settlements for internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees.

“As if this was not enough of a burden, we now worry that their lives are threatened by lack of food and water, malnutrition and deadly epidemics such as cholera and measles.”

More than 57,000 Nigerian refugees and some 80,000 Cameroonians displaced from border towns constitute the burden of “forced migrants” currently living in the Far North Region.

Deadly attacks by Boko Haram, the armed group based in northeast Nigeria and operating throughout the Lake Chad area, are mainly to blame for the humanitarian crisis.

“Large scale displacement is compounding existing vulnerabilities [in the region],” said Lanzer’s office, the regional Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA).

He said,“Food insecurity has dramatically spiked in recent months, affecting today one in every three people. The acute malnutrition rate is also on the rise, surpassing the emergency threshold in many areas.”

Most refugees are settled at a camp in Minawao, east of the Mambara Mountains, while internally displaced people are scattered in the homes of relatives across the region and country.

In spite joint military operations to stem Boko Haram’s campaign of terror, the level of insecurity has held steady in the region. Suicide bombings have killed dozens across the Far North over the past few months.

Lanzer said the situation was adversely affecting the movement of people, as well as business and agriculture on which communities depend. Lanzer called for more international support, amid dwindling interest in funding the humanitarian crises in Cameroon.

“Current funding of Cameroon’s humanitarian appeal covers barely 40 per cent of the needs, threatening the viability of humanitarian response to the Far North over the coming months,” his office said.

“Food distributions, access to health services and psycho-social care are among our top priorities to save lives and restore the dignity of the displaced”, said Najat Rochdi, the UN humanitarian and resident coordinator in Cameroon.

“A renewed engagement by development actors is also essential if we are to address the root causes of chronic vulnerability and ensure stability of the region in a durable manner.”