Qatar Red Crescent Society Completes Winter Relief Project In Iraq

Doha, 16 Rabi’ul AKhir 1437/26 January 2016 (MINA) –The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has completed a large-scale winter relief project in Iraq’s Al Anbar Governorate.

The $494,000 (QR1.8m) project is aims at alleviating the suffering of internally displaced Iraqis who fled the fighting in the governorate.

Over a month, QRCS personnel distributed winter aid like blankets, winter clothes, and heating material to 6,500 families (39,000 people) in several cities and IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, The Peninsula quoted by Mi’raj Islamic  News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

In cooperation with local partners, the beneficiaries were selected based on certain criteria, focusing on the most vulnerable IDPs who live in very tough conditions outside of camps, especially amid the cold weather and lack of protection.

QRCS is already conducting other relief projects for Iraqi IDPs in Kurdistan, including a water and sanitation project to establish a water storage and distribution system in Ashti Iraqi Refugee Camp, Sulaymaniyah, serving 1,312 families (7,878 people) of the camp.

Under the Warm Winter 2014-2015 campaign in Kurdistan, which targeted the Iraqi IDPs in Erbil, QRCS personnel distributed $219,178 worth of winter aid to 5,088 most-vulnerable families (30,528 people) with widows, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Last April, more than 300,000 Iraqis fled Al Anbar as violence escalated in Ramadi, the capital of the governorate.

In a statement, the United Nations warned against an imminent humanitarian disaster in Iraq, calling upon the donors to provide $500m in total to help millions of IDPs across the country.

Figures of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) show that half of the displaced families live in substandard shelters and makeshift structures with no basic needs.

The people in need of aid in Iraq quadrupled over 12 months, estimated now at about eight million.

Moreover, 10,000 families are at risk of famine under the siege of Fallujah and Ramadi, which are witnessing very poor humanitarian conditions due to life-threatening food and medicine shortages. (T/Rsm/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)