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SYRIA / DEIR EZZOR FOOD AID
STORY: SYRIA / DEIR EZZOR FOOD AID
TRT: 02:33
SOURCE: PLEASE CREDIT WFP ON SCREEN
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13, 14, 16 FEBRUARY 2018, DEIR EZZOR / PALMYRA / DAMASCUS, SYRIA
13 FEBRUARY 2018, PALMYRA, SYRIA
1. Various shots, UN convoy on the road to Deir Ezzor, crossing Palmyra
14 FEBRUARY 2018, DEIR EZZOR, SYRIA
2. Wide shot, “Deir Ezzor Welcomes You” sign, war damaged buildings
3. Various shots, war damaged city
4. Med shot, Ali rummaging for scrap to sell on the market
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali, City Resident:
“We share the food and money we bring amongst ourselves. During the siege we would not eat in order to feed our children. Now things are much better thank God.”
6. Various shots, war damaged buildings, muddy roads
16 FEBRUARY 2018, DAMASCUS, SYRIA
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdirahman Meygag, WFP Syria Deputy Director:
“We assisted the people in Deir Ezzor through our airdrop operations in the past year and a half. Since the roads are now accessible, we intend to beef-up our programs and deliver more assistance to Deir Ezzor city and the governorate.”
FILE - AUGUST 2017, DEIR EZZOR, SYRIA
8. Med shot cockpit of WFP Ilyushin IL-76 flying over Syria
9. Various shots, high altitude airdrop, from 16,500 feet high, over besieged parts of Deir Ezzor city
10. Various shots, Syrian Arab Red Crescent staff collecting the airdropped food and other assistance from the drop zone
13 FEBRUARY 2018, WADI STREET, DEIR EZZOR, SYRIA
11. Various shots, food market
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bayan, 12-Year-old City Resident:
“We were living under shelling and very little food, electricity and water.”
Q: How did you find food to eat?
“We would receive food rations from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent that my mom would then cook for us to eat.”
13. Wide shot, WFP staff visiting family assessing the food needs of the family
14. Close up, cooking
15. med shot, sisters eating
Following the lifting of the three-and-a-half-year long siege by ISIS, this week the World Food Programme (WFP) went on a milestone mission to Deir Ezzor City to document the conditions on the ground.
This is the first mission for any UN personnel since mid-2014 when the entire governorate became inaccessible.
For 17 months WFP ran an airdrop operation on behalf of the entire UN in Syria. Airdrops were a lifeline for the people trapped inside Deir Ezzor City.
The city now has more than 100,000 people living in it. About 80 percent of the city is destroyed-especially the eastern parts where ISIS fighters were in control. People inside the city are either returnees or residents who remained inside and received food via WFP airdrops.
Unemployment is high in the city and governorate. While many are public servants their meagre salaries cannot sustain them especially after having lost their homes in the ISIS shelling and coalition airstrikes.
Ali, a father of two makes a living rummaging for scraps to sell on the market to feed his family.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali, City Resident:
“We share the food and money we bring amongst ourselves. During the siege we would not eat in order to feed our children. Now things are much better thank God.”
Infrastructure is nearly completely destroyed, particularly the central part of town and the eastern side of the city where ISIS was in control. Most people are living in congested locations in the western part of the city such as Qosour, Jora neighbourhood and Wadi street where the marketplace is located and extends for 1.5 km.
The areas completely destroyed are in the central part of the city but more to the eastern side, mainly Jbelila hood where Cinema Fo’ad Street is located. This street was controlled by ISIS and was heavily shelled by the US-led coalition.
SOUNDBITE (English) Abdirahman Meygag, WFP Syria Deputy Director:
“We assisted the people in Deir Ezzor through our airdrop operations in the past year and a half. Since the roads are now accessible, we intend to beef-up our programs and deliver more assistance to Deir Ezzor city and the governorate.”
WFP ran a high-altitude airdrop operation from April 2016 to August 2017, which dropped food and humanitarian assistance to cover the needs of 93,000 people trapped in Deir Ezzor. After demining road access is now possible, WFP and other UN agencies can truck in assistance on a regular basis via the Damascus – Homs – Palmyra – Deir Ezzor route.
The only market, serving more than 100,000 people in the city. The street is 1.5 kilometres long and is modestly stocked with food, produce and other goods that traders bring in from Damascus.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bayan, 12-Year-old City Resident:
“We were living under shelling and very little food, electricity and water.”
Q: How did you find food to eat?
“We would receive food rations from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent that my mom would then cook for us to eat.”
WFP urgently needs funds to continue providing food assistance to those most in need.
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