This is a regional crisis, not just a Syrian crisis

Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanist Crisis Response program is raising funds for International Rescue Committee to support their Syrian refugee relief efforts. To contribute, click here. As of of Thursday morning, our humanist community has raised more than $5,500 for this crisis.

International Rescue Committee president and CEO David Miliband spoke with Christiane Amanpour on CNN regarding the desperate regional crisis that has displaced one-third of Syrians.

“The use of chemical weapons is the tip of the humanitarian iceberg in this Syrian crisis. One in three Syrians have been driven from their homes. Two million Syrians out of the country. … For a country like Lebanon, four million people in Lebanon; seven hundred fifty thousand Syrians arriving there. That’s like every single Briton, sixty million of us, sixty five million of us, arriving in the U.S. … And that’s why it’s right to call it a regional crisis, not just a Syrian crisis.” 

The IRC is working with refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. In Iraq, one of the most urgent needs is water. Some 50,000 Syrian refugees have poured into Iraq in recent weeks, and the IRC is providing both short-term and long-term solutions to ensure that everyone has access to water–particularly important when the daytime temperature often reaches 100 degrees F. The IRC’s goal is to provide 20 liters of water per day per refugee. (In contrast, consider that the average American uses about 250 liters of water per day.) This water meets the refugees’ urgent needs, preventing dehydration and enabling basic sanitation to stop the spread of disease.

To learn more about this crisis, click here or visit the IRC’s Syrian Crisis Storify. To donate, click here.