DAVID ADAMS reports…
Heavy snow, torrential rain and heavy winds are the latest challenge for millions of Syrians forced to flee their homes due to the ongoing conflict in their country.
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FACING A BIITER WINTER: Syrian children outside their makeshift home battling the cold in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. PICTURE: Ralph Baydoun/World Vision “This is the worst humanitarian crisis that we have seen in decades, with every day more vulnerable Syrians pushed into hunger.”– Muhannad Hadi, the World Food Programme’s Syria emergency coordinator.
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World Vision is among those organisations which has been distributing supplies to refugees facing the start of a harsh winter.
This includes giving blankets and vouchers for stoves and fuel to some 25,000 families in Lebanon where a blizzard has caused a heavy snowfall, and giving coats to more than 30,000 children in Jordan’s Za’atari Camp who are facing winter in shorts and sandals.
More than 2.3 million people have fled Syria as a result of the war while millions more have been displaced from their homes but remain within the country’s borders.
Anthea Spinks, World Vision Australia’s head of humanitarian and emergency affairs, says the sheer scale of the crisis remains immense.
“We are concerned about the dire consequences of winter on those living in temporary shelters. So we are working to protect as many people as possible.”
Earlier this week Muhannad Hadi, the World Food Programme’s Syria emergency coordinator, described the crisis facing those displaced from their homes in Syria as the worst humanitarian crisis “in decades”.
“This is the worst humanitarian crisis that we have seen in decades, with every day more vulnerable Syrians pushed into hunger,” he said.
“Recent assessments show that almost half the population inside Syria is food insecure and close to 6.3 million people need urgent, life-saving, food aid, victims of the nearly three-year-old conflict that has pitched forces loyal to President Bashar al–Assad against groups seeking to oust him.
The WFP says it plans to feed 4.25 million displaced Syrians inside their country and around 2.9 million Syrians who have fled to neighbouring countries during 2014. On Monday, the UN launched an appeal for $US6.5 billion to meet with humanitarian needs as a result of the crisis in the coming year.
More than 100,000 people have been killed so far in the conflict. Among the latest reported casualities are up to 28 children who were reportedly killed in Aleppo, in northern Syria, on Sunday when helicopters dropped improvised bombs on parts of the city.
To donate to World Vision’s Syrian Refugees Crisis Response call 13 32 40 or see www.worldvision.com.au.
