The humanitarian crisis in western Sudan has forced around 200,000 people to flee to refugee camps in neighbouring Chad. Some of those camps were planned and built with the help of Dr Tom Corsellis, from the University of Cambridge's Department of Architecture.

Dr Corsellis is a leading expert on creating accommodation for displaced people and has advised UN agencies, governments and non-governmental organisations on dealing with relief and reconstruction efforts after conflicts and natural disasters. His work has taken him to, among other places, Liberia, Kenya, Burundi, Kosovo, Serbia, other Balkan countries, Bangladesh and India.

He is also involved with two small but growing aid agencies, both associated with the University of Cambridge: 'Shelter Project' develops guidelines, with the aid community, on ways of accommodating people displaced by war or natural disasters; 'Aidworld' supports global development and the aid community itself by building free software and maintaining services and an Information Communication Technology forum.

When it became apparent in late June that the situation in Sudan was deteriorating rapidly, Oxfam GB called on Dr Corsellis for help establishing refugee camps in eastern Chad and supporting the international community's strategy for helping displaced people there.

Dr Corsellis spent three weeks in Chad, advising Oxfam, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other aid agencies on the best way of constructing the camps and establishing effective water supplies, accommodation, transport access and sanitation.

"The average lifespan of a camp is five years," Dr Corsellis explains, "so it's important for the refugees, and the local population living close to the camps, that we get them right.

"In Chad, there's also a real need to cap the numbers of people at each camp and to build more camps. That's partly because of the need for water - it's the rainy season there at the moment, so although there's a lot of surface water, it's hard to tell how much will be left after the rains.

"Also, the environment is very fragile and for each truck of food you bring in, you need another four trucks of wood to cook that food. You need to limit the impact of these camps on the environment and the local population."

In the early months of the crisis, says Dr Corsellis, many of those fleeing Sudan were welcomed into the homes of people on the Chad side of the border; often, they belonged to the same ethnic groups. As the scale has escalated, however, host families' supplies have run low and they have been unable to cope with new arrivals.

That has created increased demand for the camps. The Bredjing Camp was planned for 18,000 people; when Dr Corsellis was there in July, it had 36,000 people and the number now stands at around 44,000.

"It's an urgent, and very difficult, situation," says Dr Corsellis. "Around 1.2 million people have been displaced because of the crisis in Darfur and 200,000 of them are now in Chad.

"Oxfam still needs money for the relief effort and access to the camps will be a problem for the next couple of months until the rainy season ends - there are a lot of wadis (dry river beds) in the region and, in the rains, they flood and swallow trucks, so it can be very hard to get food and supplies in there."

Dr Corsellis is now back at work for Shelter Project and Aidworld.

"The staff and volunteers working for both organisations and supporting our field operations are just fantastic," he says. "I'm really grateful to them. I'd also like to thank the Department and University for their unwaivering support, as well as everyone who has donated to the relief effort in Sudan and Chad."

People who would like to give to the Oxfam Appeal for Sudan and Chad can call 0845 300 7070 or take their donation to any Oxfam shop.

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