UNIPATH STAFF
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) conducted a successful food drop for people trapped in the besieged eastern city of Deir Ezzor in Syria. The April 2016 delivery marked the first food assistance to reach parts of the city since March 2014.
In January 2016, U.N. humanitarian agencies said the city’s residents, mostly women and children, faced sharply deteriorating conditions and needed urgent humanitarian assistance amid reports of malnutrition and deaths due to starvation.
A total of 20 metric tons — enough to feed 2,500 people for a month — were dropped by a WFP-chartered aircraft, the agency said. The aircraft flew from the airport in Marka, Jordan. Airdrops are always a last resort, as land access is easier and the most cost-effective way of delivering food, the agency said.
Over 200,000 people have been living under siege in Deir Ezzor since March 2014 and are in need of humanitarian care.
In February, WFP carried out its first high-altitude airdrop ever, dropping 21 tons of food on Deir Ezzor. But technical problems meant some of the pallets missed the drop zone, and some were damaged because parachutes failed to function properly.
Across Syria, WFP provides food to more than 4 million people every month and remains concerned about the Syrians living in hard-to-reach areas harassed by Daesh.
Sources: United Nations, The Peninsula
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