Syrian family among millions relying on aid to survive winter

The vast majority of the 670,000 registered Syrian refugees in Jordan live below the poverty line and rely on international assistance to survive. The 155 Jordanian dinars (US$218) in cash assistance they receive each month from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, barely covers their rent and bills, with nothing left to meet the extra costs of winter.

As a result, they are among more than 328,000 Syrian refugees living in towns and cities across Jordan that UNHCR intends to help this year with a one-off winter cash payment of between 200 and 340 dinars (US$282–480). Assistance will also be provided to 32,000 refugees from Iraq and other nationalities. The money can be used to buy gas for heating, blankets, and winter shoes and clothes.

Across the region as a whole, UNHCR aims to provide life-saving winter assistance to 3.5 million vulnerable Syrian and Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people.

Of the total US$180 million requested for this year’s regional winter response, US$148 million has so far been received from donors – including large donations from the United States and Germany. However, UNHCR is urgently seeking to fill the US$32 million gap to ensure that millions of displaced Syrians, Iraqis, and others get the support they desperately need.

In Jordan, as well as winter cash payments to more than 79,000 families, UNHCR is also investing in repairs to shelters and drainage in Za’atari, the country’s largest refugee camp, a few kilometres outside Mafraq.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTE4CX8I3wk

Original source: UNHCR
Published on 20 December 2018