Humanitarian resources are urgently needed to satisfy the needs of more than 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) scattered across Iraq ahead of an advancing cold season, a senior U.N. official in Iraq warned Tuesday. "Winter is here, and in many parts of the country displaced populations are already being hit with heavy rains, winds, storms and low temperatures," Jacqueline Badcock, U.N. deputy special representative for Iraq, said in a statement. "Warm winter clothes and shoes for a minimum of 450,000 people, including 225,000 children are urgently needed." Badcock's warning accompanied an appeal launched by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA), which called for $173.1 million to address "the immediate needs" of an estimated 1.26 million IDPs. According to OHCA, close to 50 percent of the displaced have found refuge in the high altitude areas of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, where winter temperatures can plummet. Others have found shelter in unfinished buildings, informal settlements, or overwhelmed public structures, as well as in the open air. OCHA said that of the total requested amount, $46.3 million is needed for "shelter and related items" while $70.2 million is urgently needed for food. Without that funding, the agency warned, food assistance could "abruptly stop after January 2015." "Unless funds are forthcoming, the 1.8 million people currently being targeted for food assistance will not get the assistance they need," Badcock said.
