World Vision Develops Contingency Plans for Iraq aid strategy
Situation ‘clearly unstable;’ Baghdad convoy considered
For Immediate Release
April 18, 2003
AMMAN, JORDAN – Ongoing violence has led World Vision to re-think its strategy for bringing humanitarian aid into Iraq.
The international Christian aid organization had planned to send an assessment team this weekend, but two days of riots resulting in nearly 20 deaths have caused the agency to make contingency plans.
“The security situation remains clearly unstable,” says Ton van Zutphen, World Vision’s relief manager. “We recognize that thousands of Iraqi people are in need of food, medicines and other emergency aid, and now we’re considering additional plans."
This week, World Vision began shipping food and personal care items to the region from its North American warehouse in Denver, and last month airlifted supplies, including blankets, tents and cooking utensils, from its European warehouse in Italy.
World Vision and the United Nations’ World Food Program will likely be working together for several months distributing food in the governorate of Ninewah in northern Iraq, once the situation is stable, van Zutphen says.
“The longer the violence continues and communities remain prone to outbreaks of hostilities, the longer it will take for humanitarian agencies to conduct assessments and set up relief operations,” van Zutphen says.
CONTACTS: mediainfo@worldvision.org
Iraq Press Kit Press Releases: July 30, 2003 June 3, 2003 April 30, 2003 April 18, 2003 April 10, 2003 March 31, 2003 March 28, 2003 March 26, 2003 March 21, 2003 March 17, 2003 March 12, 2003 March 11, 2003 February 13, 2003 February 5, 2003 January 28, 2003
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