ICRC appeals for 20 million euros to help Syrians

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is appealing to its donors for 24.5 million Swiss francs (nearly US $27 million / €20 million) to help the tens of thousands of people affected by the fighting in Syria. This will in effect almost triple the ICRC's budget for the crisis.

Béatrice Mégevand-Roggo, Head of ICRC's Middle East Operations says: "We still have a lot of humanitarian needs, a lot of people displaced, many people wounded because there are bomb attacks, suicide bombings and clashes between armed groups and army and security forces raiding villages and towns."

There are also tens of thousands of people who have fled Syria to Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon - many arrive seriously wounded and in dire need of medical treatment. The ICRC supports the Lebanese Red Cross emergency medical services to evacuate casualties from the border and get them to hospitals which are supported by the ICRC. Since September 2011, over 500 casualties have been treated.

Following recent dialogue with the Syrian authorities and the opposition, the ICRC has managed to secure a 'humanitarian pause' in the violence for the first time last week in Douma, near Damascus, for two consecutive days. The ICRC and SARC have also had better access to people in Idlib, Homs, Hama, Dera'a, Aleppo and Rural Damascus. The additional funding would provide monthly food parcels for around 100,000 vulnerable people and household essentials for up to 25,000 people.

Furthermore explains Béatrice Mégevand-Roggo: "We will provide medical supplies and equipment to clinics, hospitals, and ambulances of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent ... and we'll also have programmes in the field where water structures have been damaged by the fighting." Water projects and other repair projects would help restore public services for up to 1.5 million people affected by the fighting.

The additional funding would also be used to assist Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries. Since January, the number of Syrian casualties entering Lebanon has increased significantly, reflecting the escalation in the violence. The Lebanese Red Cross and the ICRC hope to expand their emergency medical services and post-operative care. The ICRC will also keep available a stock of relief items for 1,500 families in case of a further sudden influx of refugees.

ICRC in Syria

• Since the onset of the violence, Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have been providing emergency health-care and first-aid services to the wounded and sick. Their efforts have saved many lives, but two volunteers and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent's Secretary General lost their lives in the line of duty.
• Since July 2011, the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have distributed food and other essential items to cover the needs of about 400,000 people.

ICRC in Lebanon

• Since September 2011, the ICRC has distributed one-month food rations, mattresses, blankets, hygiene items, kitchen sets and other items to around 1,000 Syrian refugees in the Bekaa. The ICRC also provided supplies for local organizations assisting new refugees arriving from Syria
• Aid for Syrian refugees provided by the ICRC supplements that provided by the Lebanese government's High Relief Commission and its partners, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In January and February, when Syrian refugees first began arriving in the Bekaa, where the High Relief Commission and UNHCR were not operating, the ICRC decided to distribute food and other items in the area.
• ICRC organized a war-surgery workshop for Lebanese surgeons and nurses treating Syrian casualties in hospitals in northern Lebanon.

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