City of refugees

(International Rescue Committee/Peter Biro)Peter Biro, a photographer with the International Rescue Committee, traveled to the Nigerian city of Yola, where more than 400,000 refugees have taken up residence — of a sort."People generally think of refugees housed in sprawling camps with rows of tarp tents, but the situation in Yola is actually quite typical — over half of the world's more than 50 million refugees and internally displaced live in urban areas," he says. "They move into poor communities, straining already scarce resources, which amplifies poverty in the host community."Only around 15 percent of Yola's recent arrivals have moved into government-run camps; others have found shelter with relatives or friends. The least lucky have disappeared into the urban mass — a problem for the government and international aid groups trying to help refugees get basics like food and water.