Forum on charitable acts calls for e-platform for Syrian refugees
Relief teams on the field to see Syrian refugees
KILIS/BEIRUT: The first forum on coordinating humanitarian and relief efforts called for setting up an e-platform to gather national and humanitarian organizations to organize hosting Syrian refugees in Turkey. This came on Sunday during a meeting organized by Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Organization (ARCO), in the presence of Turkish Red Crescent (TRC), Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) and Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) in Gaziantep city, southeast of Turkey. The conferees stressed the importance of this e-platform as a small operations room to achieve the clear goals, and field integration and coordination as well as make quick responses, share information and meet urgent requirements of the refugees. The podium will be linked to endeavors made by other international organizations so as to unify the current efforts in the field.
The TRC said in a speech that it would take charge of activating the platform’s activities that will gather executive and donor bodies of relief organizations on the ground. TRC added that its recent participation in alleviating suffering of people in the Syrian city of Aleppo helped it to put a concept for coordinating relief aid for helping needy people and refugees. Secretary General of ARCO Dr Saleh Al-Sohaibani expressed his appreciation to all bodies and societies working on aiding Syrian refugees, mainly in Turkey. He affirmed that the accelerated tragedy in Syria prompted bodies in humanitarian field to react quickly, indicating that the matter requires further coordination to meet all needs of refugees amid difficult conditions, especially in winter. He referred to humanitarian efforts by TRC, KRCS and QRCS aimed to meet needs of the refugees and needy people in line with a certain mechanism.
Addressing relief organizations and societies, he said: “We support you and put our hands into your hands to work together on setting priorities to ensure the delivery of aid completely to the refugees and coordinate with organizations working in this field for providing relief and humanitarian aid for them.” He expressed his hope for achieving fruitful coordination with KRCS, emphasizing that responding to attend this meeting is a successful step in achieving the message, and saving much efforts and money.
Earlier on Sunday, a team dispatched by Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) to the Syrian-Turkish border regions has met a number of Syrians who fled war-torn Syria, examining their living conditions away from home and pressing needs. Musaed Al-Enezi, the head of the KRCS mission in Turkey, told KUNA on Sunday that the society’s field team met earlier today with a number of Syrian refugees, who spoke about their requirements for housing, medicines and heating. The KRCS has dispatched the team to the frontier areas to examine conditions of Syrians settling in several camps straddling the border line. The society is coordinating with Turkish and Qatari philanthropic societies to facilitate delivery of the humanitarian aid to the Syrians, namely those who fled Aleppo.
Meanwhile, KRCS has distributed 5,000 liters of diesel to 250 Syrian families settling in the northern mountainous region of Akkar. The help came at high time, with temperature in the Lebanese mountain ebbing to zero, Fahad AlYagout, the head of a KRCS field team said in a statement yesterday. He lauded the Lebanese Red Cross for coordinating with the society to deliver relief supplies to the Syrian refugees in remote areas, braving heard weather conditions and heavy snow blocking many main routes. Many of the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in squalid conditions and poorly-built shanty towns in the country.