Catholic Agencies Respond to Urgent Needs in Basra

Catholic Relief Services
Wednesday, 26 March 2003

Catholic Relief Services' partner, Caritas Iraq, has sent emergency medical supplies from its centers in Baghdad to Basra in response to an urgent appeal for help from Archbishop Gibrael Kassab of Basra. Archbishop Kassab made the appeal with fears mounting in Basra of an outbreak of disease due to the breakdown of the electricity supply, which is vital to keeping water purification plants and sewage treatment systems functioning.

Some 60 percent of the people in Basra are now forced to drink water from rivers and canals contaminated with sewage. UNICEF has warned that up to 100,000 children under the age of five could be at serious risk of disease.

Caritas Iraq has sent medicines and first aid kits to Basra, as well as a shipment of chlorine tablets to purify as much as 1.5 million liters of water, enough to meet the needs of 100,000 people for one day. A further shipment of tablets – to provide six million liters of clean water – will be sent from Jordan to Baghdad and distributed from there to Caritas Iraq's network of 14 centers throughout Iraq in the next few days.

In preparation for a potential conflict, Caritas Iraq distributed relief supplies, including equipment to build bore holes for clean water, water purification tablets and chemical toilets to a range of centers throughout the country where people would take shelter.

Over the past two years, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has supported the Archdiocese of Basra in mitigating the suffering of the population of the region due to the unavailability of essential medicines. The agency has helped to supply free essential medicines covering 6,000 medical prescriptions for the poor who cannot otherwise afford it and to ensure better quality of service delivery by offering vocational training.

CRS is working with Caritas in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey to respond to the immediate needs of Iraqis, including refugees. While CRS supports the humanitarian response, the agency continues its efforts to work for peace and lay the foundation for rebuilding what is damaged by the war and promoting the dignity of each Iraqi citizen.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Relief Services, see their website at: www.catholicrelief.org