In a major step towards bringing food, water and other emergency supplies to anguished Iraqi children and their families, a Save the Children security and relief team will cross the Iraqi border into the southern seaport of Um Qasr tomorrow (12/4).

The team will assess the humanitarian needs of the population and whether it is safe to set up a relief operation. If the situation is secure, the team will also visit Basra, where there are growing reports of residents begging for food.

Save the Children visited Um Qasr briefly for the first time last week, reporting that the 30,000 residents were in desperate need of water.

"We were swarmed by people needing water," says Save the Children Media Officer Nicole Amoroso, who travelled with the security and relief team on their first visit, and will accompany the team to Um Qasr tomorrow.

“Residents hadn’t had water for 4 days. Trucks selling water are the only source of clean water in the city, and many residents can’t afford to buy it.

“People there are living in abject poverty. It confirmed what we’ve been saying all along – there was a humanitarian crisis in Iraq before the war. It really is imperative that Save the Children and other agencies can get access as soon as possible."

Ms Amoroso visited the local hospital where there are 2 doctors for a population of 30,000.

“The director of the local hospital told us that they’d had no water for the past 4 days.He’s seeing close to 300 patients a day."

Ms Amoroso says security is also a growing concern in Um Qasr.

“There’s no local police now, so looting and theft is a serious problem."

Save the Children is among the first relief agencies to enter southern Iraq via Um Qasr, the only place the military has deemed safe for humanitarian groups.

Over the coming weeks, Save the Children will set up operations in the port city, assisting children and their families with vital supplies of water, food, medicine and shelter. Save the Children will focus on helping the estimated 1000 displaced families who have come to the city to escape the fighting.

Save the Children also plans to set up relief operations in Az Zubayr and Basra, Iraq’s second city, where it aims to set up a regional office.

In northern Iraq, Save the Children has 60 national staff who have been working throughout the conflict, delivering blankets, children’s clothing, fuel and cooking kits to displaced families.

ENDS
For more information contact Save the Children 04 385 6847 or info@scnz.org.nz