UNHCR Launches Major Aid Push for Iraq With 100-Ton Airlift to Erbil

In response to the deteriorating situation in northern Iraq, UNHCR this week launched one of its largest aid pushes aimed at helping close to a half million people who have been forced to flee their homes. On August 20 a cargo jet carrying 100 tons of emergency relief supplies landed at Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, launching a UN refugee agency aid operation for hundreds of thousands of people caught in Iraq’s worsening humanitarian crisis.

The UN reports that: “Aboard the Boeing 747 from Amman, Jordan were 3,300 tents, 20,000 plastic sheets, 18,500 kitchen sets and 16,500 jerry cans – the first consignment in an operation that aims at bringing in 2,410 tons of aid between now and the start of September. The aid will target living conditions for almost 500,000 displaced people in the region, many of whom are living rough in unfinished buildings, in parks or by the roadside.” This video documents the aid airlift. Credit: YouTube\UNHCR