Number of newly displaced in Pakistan nears 700,000

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 13 (UNHCR) - The number of people who have fled the fighting in northwest Pakistan this month and been registered or recorded by authorities reached 670,906 on Wednesday, up from just over half a million the day before.

The majority of those registered by Pakistani authorities with the assistance of UNHCR are staying in the homes of friends and relatives or camping out in the open; a fraction of the total - 79,842 - are now living in camps.

Together with more than 550,000 registered displaced people in the North West Frontier Province and some 21,000 in the capital Islamabad and urban areas of the Punjab, the continuing exodus brings to 1,248,715 the total number of people displaced in Pakistan since August, 2008.

UNHCR believes the total number of people who have fled the fighting in recent weeks could be much higher, since many of those fleeing the fighting between government forces and militants have not yet registered with authorities.

UN High Commissioner António Guterres has called urgently on countries around the world to come to the aid of the growing number of displaced. "This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency, which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region," he said earlier this week.