Samaritan's Purse responds to urgent UN request for field hospital to help desperate Mosul residents
Christian disaster relief organization already offering medical services, food, water, shelter materials, and more to ISIS victims
CALGARY, Dec. 11, 2016 /CNW/ - Samaritan's Purse has agreed to an urgent United Nations request to deploy and staff a fully equipped emergency field hospital in northern Iraq to meet the immediate medical needs of families desperately fleeing violence and death in war-torn Mosul.
The Christian disaster relief organization is already aiding thousands of what may soon become a massive flood of people escaping from Mosul. A Samaritan's Purse mobile medical team is treating those who've been without medical care for months, and a disaster response team is distributing food—salt, cooking oil, chickpeas, rice, flour and beans—to tens of thousands of people in several evacuee camps.
Samaritan's Purse is also providing water, blankets, shelter tarps, hygiene kits, cooking kits, and shoes to displaced families in the evacuee camps, and to families returning to villages and towns around Mosul that have already been cleared of ISIS terrorists.
ISIS, in its battle to control Iraq and much of the Middle East, captured Mosul in June 2014. A coalition of Iraqi government and Kurdish forces began a military offensive on Oct. 17 to take back Iraq's second-largest city. Mosul's terrified residents are desperate to escape the fighting. Nearly 80,000 have fled so far—risking ISIS snipers or ISIS-planted booby traps.
The residents who succeed in escaping usually get out with nothing with which to care for themselves. In anticipation of the current military offensive, Samaritan's Purse positioned emergency supplies several months ago along routes out of the city that fleeing Mosul residents were likely to travel.
"The battle for Mosul is a nightmare for many innocent residents," said Fred Weiss, Samaritan's Purse Canada's executive director. "We're prepared to do all we can to help save lives. Deployment of this field hospital will provide emergency medical aid not otherwise immediately available to those fleeing Mosul."
Weiss added: "Let's keep these families in Mosul in our prayers. Canadians can also help through their donations. Together, we can provide immediate relief for people who've known nothing but fear, hunger, death, and desperation since ISIS descended on Mosul."
Samaritan's Purse has provided immediate medical aid in emergencies such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2013 Philippines typhoon. This is the second time Samaritan's Purse has deployed its emergency field hospital. The first was to Ecuador last April to treat hundreds of people injured in a massive earthquake.
The Samaritan's Purse website has more details on our relief work in the Middle East.
Donations Needed: To support Samaritan's Purse's disaster relief efforts, or to learn more, please visit SamaritansPurse.ca (click on "Donate") or call 1-800-663-6500.
About Samaritan's Purse Canada: Samaritan's Purse is a Christian relief and development organization that takes its name from Jesus Christ's biblical story of the Good Samaritan. Like that Good Samaritan, who found a beaten man and helped restore him, we aid victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine, and persecution. Besides disaster relief, our work includes collecting and distributing gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, safe water, and more. Learn more at SamaritansPurse.ca.
SOURCE Samaritan's Purse Canada
Media Inquiries: Frank King, News Media Relations Manager, Samaritan's Purse Canada, 403-990-0161 (mobile) or [email protected]
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