People in Need Helps Civilians Fleeing Aleppo. One of our employees was killed in an aerial attack alongside his family
Published: Dec 26, 2016 Reading time: 2 minutes
Gaziantep, 26 December 2016 – People in Need has begun to distribute food and blankets to families fleeing Aleppo. It is in the process of organising an even larger range of aid. The conflict does not end with the civilians’ evacuation. Civilians continue to be the targets of air strikes. On 24 December, one of the local employees of People in Need lost his life, along with his family, during an air strike near Aleppo. He became the fifth victim to lose his life from the ranks of employees or close collaborators of PiN in Syria.
The employee, Hasan Sa’aid Al Soun died during an aerial bombardment of the city of Atareb, not far from Aleppo. Hasan worked as regional coordinator of the People in Need Aleppo office. At the time of the air strike, he was at home, and his wife, children, and other members of his family were also killed. “Attacks on civilian residents have, unfortunately, become a part of this war, and have only been escalating in recent months,” states Aid Coordinator for Syria, Tomáš Kocián.
The areas of the western provinces of Aleppo currently remain the targets of bombings with many civilian casualties. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over fifty thousand people fleeing eastern Aleppohave been registered and have found refuge in the countryside districts or other refugee camps.
On 25 December, People in Need distributed a five-day supply of high-energy food, warm blankets, and sleeping mats or water canisters to 126 families displaced from eastern Aleppo. “We also registered an additional 454 families, who will receive aid within 48 hours, and will continue to provide further aid. We are also coordinating aid with other actors on site, in order to secure effective coverage of the aid being provided,” says Tomáš Kocián.
With this latest death, the number of employees and close collaborators of People in Need in Syria killed has grown to five. All of them died as a result of air strikes and bombings in northern Syria. More information about the victims here and here.
People in Need has been active in Syria since 2012, and has delivered direct aid to over two million Syrians since then. It provides aid in Syria thanks to the support of the Czech public, which contributed to the SOS Syria fund-raising campaign or through the Klubu přátel Člověka v tísni (Friends of People in Need). Institutional aid is provided by the European Union Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the British government through the Department for International Development (DFID), the American government (OFDA), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the World Food Programme (WFP), the German government, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
