The first UN World Food Programme (WFP) flight carrying food to families cut off from humanitarian supplies in Al Hassakeh Governorate landed Saturday night in Qamishly airport.
The WFP-chartered flight carried 40 tonnes of food including rice, pulses, salt, vegetable oil and sugar. WFP also sent Plumpy’doz, a specialized nutrition product used to treat and prevent malnutrition in children. It is estimated that 275,000 people living in many areas in Al Hasskeh Governorate are in need of humanitarian assistance but have been cut off from food and humanitarian supplies for more than six months.
Over the course of a month, the plane will fly at least 25 times between Damascus and Qamishly to deliver over 1,000 metric tonnes of humanitarian cargo including food, nutrition supplies, medicines and other relief items on behalf of other humanitarian organizations operating in Syria including, the WHO, UNHCR, IOM, ICRC, and GOPA.
WFP is prioritising over 75,000 people to receive food assistance, mainly displaced families in shelters and unfinished buildings, female-headed households as well as some vulnerable Iraq refugee families in the Hwal camp. Most of those families have not received any food rations for six months.
Food distributions will be conducted by WFP’s partners on the ground in coordination with local relief committees in 35 distribution points around the governorate covering rural and urban areas. The airlifts are being coordinated by the UN Logistics Cluster with technical assistance from the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, Emirates 24/7 reported.
