€ 100,000 in Emergency Aid for Refugees in Syria
Roughly 235,000 people have fled after new attacks in northern Syria in the past two weeks. Welthungerhilfe is providing 100,000 euros in emergency aid.
Bonn/ Berlin 29.12.2019. The situation in northern Syria in the province of Idlib is drastically worsening. For weeks there have been air raids on villages around strategically significant roads. In the past two weeks alone, some 235,000 people have left their homes for the north due to the fighting. Many have sought refuge in refugee camps near the Turkish border. Resources there are exhausted and little support is available for the new refugees.
Welthungerhilfe is currently supplying around 50,000 refugees with fuel for heating, distributing bread and vouchers for hygiene articles. The aid is coordinated locally by Syrian partner organisations. There have been urgent requests for more support in recent days, as more and more desperate people are fleeing. Welthungerhilfe is responding by providing 100,000 euros in emergency aid.
"The camps are completely overcrowded and even in the cities more and more people are gathering in search of food and shelter for their families. The aid provided to date by the organisations is no longer sufficient as more and more people are setting off north every day. Our first step is to expand our bread distribution," says Dirk Hegmanns, Regional Director for Turkey and Syria, about the difficult situation on the ground.
Our Regional Director Dirk Hegmanns is available for interviews.
Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organisations in Germany; politically independent and non-denominational. It is fighting for “Zero Hunger by 2030”. Since it was founded in 1962, more than 9,300 overseas projects in 70 countries have been supported with 3.71 billion euros. Welthungerhilfe works on the principle of empowering people to help themselves: from fast disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organisations.
