Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has launched a relief campaign to raise QR15mn ($4.1mn) to help more than 120,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Mosul, northern Iraq, which is currently subject to military escalation.
QRCS communications director Issa al-Ishaq said many families have fled looking for a safer place, citing reports from the QRCS mission in Iraq and its field groups, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Affairs.
He explained QRCS’s mission in Iraq is registered with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Since 2013, many relief programmes have been conducted for Syrian refugees and Iraqi IDPs.
A new branch of QRCS’s main office in Erbil is under construction, increasing the total number of branches to five with 141 personnel. So far, QRCS has completed 20 water and sanitation, healthcare, and relief projects, at a total cost of more than $7mn, benefiting no less than 460,000 people, according to al-Ishaq.
To facilitate its work, QRCS’s mission has partnerships with, for example, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), Iraqi government and the KRG, the World Food Programme, International Organisation for Migration, World Health Organisation, United Nations Children’s Fund, and Islamic Development Bank.
QRCS’ relief and international development director Dr Khaled Diab pointed out: “The situation in Iraq is likely to become one of the world’s severest humanitarian crises, affecting about one-third of the population, or 10mn people in dire need for any form of humanitarian aid.”
“Despite the too risky work settings, QRCS personnel have so far managed to deliver relief assistance to more than 33,000 IDPs,” Diab said.
“As early as August, QRCS took precautions in anticipation of a humanitarian crisis in Mosul by storing a stock of basic relief supplies for shelter, food, and heating in its warehouses, just in case a quick and effective
intervention is needed,” he added.