ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – As cold weather sets in, the United State has started its winter supply campaign for refugees in the Kurdistan region, and promised more help to come, the US embassy in Baghdad announced in a statement. The distributions sent to the region’s capital Erbil aimed to help people who are directly affected by the country’s ongoing war against the Islamic State, or ISIS. Humanitarian support from US include: “winter clothing and coats for more than 500,000 children, warm blankets, hygiene kits, water storage containers, kerosene heaters and solar lights to help vulnerable internally displaced people and refugees cope with the cold winter weather.” According to the statement. Yesterday’s distribution provided IDPs and Syrian refugees with plastic sheeting to protect their shelters from cold, rain and snow. For those currently living in unfinished buildings, the US provide “adequate protection from winter weather elements,” the statement said. Refugees will also receive cash to buy necessary items to prepare for winter, but the amount of money each family will receive has not been specified. The US has provided more than $603 million to refugees and IDPs in Iraq since the start of the crisis, which is one of the fastest growing humanitarian crises in the world. More than 3.2 million people were forced from their homes after the Islamic State captured land in parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
