Jagan Chapagain, who is Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said families staying in makeshift shelters without adequate heating urgently need permanent housing.
“They are still living in very basic conditions in very, very cold school rooms,” he told The Associated Press in an interview. “If this continues for a long period of time, then there will be health consequences.”
The UNHCR estimated that 5.3 million Syrians across the earthquake-hit country could be homeless if viable shelter and aid is not secured.
Given the many years of war and the economic collapse of Syria, Aid to the Church in Need already had projects in place and partners on the ground in cities such as Aleppo and Lattakia.
As Felipe d’Avillez reported; the most important project now, has to do with helping people get back to their homes as quickly as possible. For this, however, it is necessary for the houses to be surveyed by engineers, to make sure there is no risk of collapse.
Fortunately, according to Xavier Stephen Bisits of Aid to the Church in Need, the nine different Christian churches that are present in Aleppo have an excellent working relationship and have already taken the lead in this respect.
Days after the earthquake hit Syria and neighboring Turkey, Catholic bishops met in Aleppo and assembled a team of engineers to start assessing the damage to the houses of Christian families.
ACN is also in touch with the Joint Committee of Aleppo, a body representing all Churches, to help fund a project to cover the costs of renting houses for families whose homes suffered more extensive damage, or were destroyed in the earthquake.
(Picture shows damage outside of the Maronite Cathedral in Aleppo after the earthquake. The picture was taken by Aid to the Church in Need)
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