Refugees fleeing the Syrian crisis will receive support after Cornish disaster relief charity ShelterBox committed over £1 million in aid.
With predictions from the UN that there will be 700,000 refugees by the new year, the Helston-based international charity is ramping up its support following work already carried out in northern Iraq with UNHCR and the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) to help those escaping the conflict.
Around 1,000 people a day are crossing the Syrian border into the Kurdistan area of Iraq as the fighting becomes more intense.
The charity had already placed 500 Shelterboxes with tents in the Domiz refugee camp near Duhuk, which is 60km from the Syria-Iraq border.
Ross Preston, ShelterBox’s head of operations, said: “Up to last week (November 14) the Domiz camp was home to 3,000 families with an average of 50 new families arriving daily.
“But during the last week the numbers have increased dramatically with around 1,000 people crossing every day.”
The ShelterBox team is now working around the clock to send another 1,000 tents with thermal liners, to the camp.
The Syrian Crisis, along with the other five disasters ShelterBox is currently responding to, means there is considerable strain being put on its resources.
This has been one of ShelterBox’s most challenging set of deployments to date and they are urgently appealing for donations to enable us to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.
