WFP Alarmed At Dire Conditions For More Than 85,000 People Who Have Fled Fallujah
Through its partners, WFP has so far distributed enough immediate response food rations to feed almost 75,000 newly displaced people arriving at camps in Habbaniya Tourism City and Amariyat al-Fallujah. Each ration contains ready-to-eat food to feed a family for three days.
However in the spirit of the Holy Month of Ramadan, other organizations are distributing additional food that complements WFP rations, making it enough to stretch for a full week.
“The people of Fallujah have been suffering under siege for many months without access to food or medical care. Reaching them now with life-saving food and other humanitarian assistance is the absolute top priority,” said Maha Ahmed, WFP Deputy Country Director in Iraq.
“The situation is heart breaking. We met a young mother this week who escaped the violence in Fallujah with her new born baby in her arms – he was only 4-days-old when they fled.”
Since military operations to retake the city from ISIL forces began on 22 May, waves of people have fled Fallujha and its surroundings. People are gathering in dozens of small camps where conditions are very harsh and many families are forced to share already overcrowded tents. Others are stranded in the desert or sheltering at mosques and schools.
“We are working with humanitarian partners to ensure comprehensive and rapid relief is provided for affected families, who have already been through too much,” Ahmed added.
WFP is sending additional immediate response food rations and family food rations from its Baghdad warehouse, an hour’s drive from Fallujah, to provide immediate food relief to the growing number of displaced. In partnership with WFP, the Qatar Red Crescent is preparing to provide cooking utensils and additional family food rations to the families from Fallujah.
More than 3 million Iraqis have been displaced by conflict since mid-June last year. WFP provides food assistance to over 1 million vulnerable displaced across all 18 governorates.
WFP is entirely voluntarily funded and relies on support from governments, companies and private individuals to provide food assistance to people in Iraq. To continue to assist displaced families for the next six months, WFP urgently requires a total of US$34 million.
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WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.
For more information, contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Abeer Etefa, WFP/Cairo, Mob +201066634352
Dina El-Kassaby, WFP/Cairo, Mob +201015218882
Frances Kennedy, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 65133725, Mob. +39 346 7600806
Bettina Luescher, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. + 41-79-842-8057
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44 20 72409001, Mob. +44 7968 008474
Steve Taravella, WFP/Washington DC, Tel. +1 202 653 1149, Mob. +1 202 770 5993
