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Order of Malta Australia

News

Syria: Number of refugees reaches 2 million – Malteser International ready to scale up relief

16/09/2013 


Amid rising tensions and the looming possibility of an international military intervention, Syria’s humanitarian crisis continues to deepen, affecting more people than ever before. According to the UN, the number of Syrian refugees has now reached two million. The Order’s worldwide relief agency, Malteser International  has followed the current developments with great concern and is prepared to intensify its relief efforts in case the conflict escalates.

Malteser International is currently providing relief to about 10,000 refugees on the Syrian-Turkish border. “Should the number of refugees fleeing to Turkey rise dramatically in the coming weeks, Malteser International and its partner organization on the ground, the International Blue Crescent, would be able to expand their relief efforts,” says Sid Johann Peruvemba, Malteser International’s Vice-Secretary General and program director. “However, we need to coordinate any new action with donors, other organizations and the Turkish authorities.”

A new mobile field hospital in the Turkish city of Kilis, only 3 kilometers from the Syrian border, is being set up to provide medical and psychological treatment for war-injured refugees. Mobile medical teams treat the ill and wounded in the border region. “Whenever the refugees are able to return home, we will also be able to relocate our programs to Syria, especially our field hospital, which was designed to be transported quickly from Turkey to Syria, as soon as the security situation allows,” Peruvemba explains.

Malteser International is also providing humanitarian aid in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Aleppo as well as in Lebanon, where it supports two medical centers in Khaldieh and Al Qbayyat with medicines and medical equipment. More than 40,000 Syrians have received food, hygiene and baby care packages, blankets and winter clothing since the organization started its emergency relief in the region in 2012.

Related articles:

Uganda: emergency medical relief for 22,000 Congolese refugees

Sirens on the ay to Timor, care of Knights – article in The Record

Australian Hospitaller 2012 – The Annual Review of the Australian Association of the Order of Malta

Malteser International Annual Report 2012

Syria crisis – Mobile clinic for war injured on Syrian-Turkish boarder

The Australian Association

The Australian Association, formed in 1974, currently has in excess of 300 members and aspirant members across every State and Territory of Australia. We also have ongoing and strong links with the Order’s National Associations throughout the Asia Pacific Region including in Singapore and the Philippines and with members of the Order in New Zealand, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand and Korea. The Order of Malta is committed to serving Our Lords the Poor and Sick worldwide and has done so for over 900 years. This website shares with you the history, mission and current activities of the Order of Malta in Australia, and provides links to the work of the Order world-wide.