Syria. Aid arrives in Aleppo for 400 displaced families: food, clothes, blankets, hygiene and children’s kits, medicines are the most urgent needs

MILAN – Four hundred families in Aleppo are currently receiving the first aid from COOPI – International cooperation, active in Syria’s second largest city since 2018, with programs for access to food and psycho-social support for the population groups most affected by the crisis. Immediately after the earthquake, which reached Northern Syria, hitting the Governorate of Aleppo most of all, COOPI conducted the first needs assessment among the communities of Forwan, Salah Din and Mohafaza, thanks to its field team of 25 operators.

Some non-definitive numbers of the disaster. According to data released by the Syrian Ministry of Health, yesterday 8 February, 4.5 million people were affected by the earthquake, of which 2,044,627 in the Governorate of Aleppo. Here there are 52 completely collapsed buildings, as well as an indefinite number of buildings damaged or about to collapse. In the city of Aleppo, which had 1.8 million inhabitants in 2018, COOPI estimates that around 100,000 people no longer have a suitable home.

The most pressing needs. Food, clothes, blankets, hygiene kits, baby kits, medicines: these are the most urgent needs of those who managed to survive the earthquake and who, losing their home or being unable to return, have nothing left to take care of of himself and the children or to face the freezing winter temperature. While the families seek temporary shelter in the structures made available by the local authorities (the stadium, mosques and schools), COOPI has organized the first emergency distribution.

Today 400 families are receiving:

– A cash endowment to buy food directly in the local market;

– solar lamps to make up for the current lack of electricity;

– blankets and hygiene kits.

COOPI it has drawn on its emergency relief fund to meet immediate needs and organize new distributions, but more needs to be done; therefore launches a public fundraising appeal to support its humanitarian intervention capabilities and thus help as many people as possible. You can donate to COOPI with the reason “Emergency earthquake” in this way:

– online:

– by bank transfer (Banca Popolare Etica – IBAN IT89A0501801600000011023694)

– by postal slip (c/c 990200 made out to COOPI)

COOPI in Syria. The NGO began working in Syria in 2016, first of all dealing with providing the means of subsistence to the families most affected by the crisis and residing in the rural Damascus area. In 2018, it opened the psychosocial support program in Aleppo, focusing on community centers capable of reaching over 40,000 people over time, through specialized therapies and information campaigns on mental health, the prevention of violence and abuse against women and children. To this in 2021, he added the food security program, which through the support of horticulture, small farming or the use of the cash for work or cash transfer system has allowed thousands of families to survive.

Who is COOPI. It intervenes in 33 countries around the world to break the cycle of poverty and to accompany populations affected by wars, socio-economic crises or natural disasters towards recovery and lasting development. From 1965 to today, COOPI has helped 110 million people by carrying out 2,519 projects in 73 countries, making use of 5,000 expatriates and 65,000 local operators.