Aid to Ch in need responding

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will be providing at least $800,000 NZ of immediate aid to Christians in Syria in the wake of the devastating earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people in that country and in neighbouring Turkey.

Given the many years of war and the economic collapse of Syria, the organisation already had projects in place and partners on the ground in cities such as Aleppo and Lattakia, which have considerable Christian communities and were badly affected by the quake.

A number of the relief projects already approved are small-scale and aimed at addressing immediate and short-term needs, according to Xavier Stephen Bisits, head of ACN’s Lebanon and Syria section, who travelled to Aleppo immediately after the quake.

The most important project, however, 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.

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