The events in Syria since March 2011 have resulted in significant humanitarian needs. Compared with the initial 2013 Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP), launched in December 2012, the crisis has further intensified and expanded into most parts of the country. Civilians across the country are bearing the brunt of the on-going violence with rising numbers of people killed, injured, displaced or otherwise affected in their living conditions.

SANA’A, 25 May 2013 – The Government of Yemen and UNICEF are pleased to announce the approval of US$82.6 million in grant by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The grant will be implemented by the Ministry of Education with UNICEF as the supervising entity and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as the coordinating entity.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Mounting concerns that public health crisis may aggravate Syria humanitarian situation. 420,000 Palestine refugees unable to meet basic needs.
• UN inter-agency cross-line assistance to almost 1 million Syrians despite security and access challenges.
• Syrian refugee population up by nearly 1 million people since January.

Movement by internally displaced persons continues to be large-scale and fluid, as many Syrians are displaced multiple times. The estimated number of IDPs now stands at 4.25 million.

HIGHLIGHTS

• A 7.8 earthquake hit South-Eastern Iran on 16 April, close to the border with Pakistan. The impact was felt in both countries, with 14 people killed, 73 injured and two missing.

• New and worsening humanitarian crises since 2011 have led to a considerable increase in CERF allocations to the MENA region. The largest recipients have been Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.

Lack of safe water and accumulation of solid waste in areas affected by the violence and areas of large IDP concentrations have raised considerable public health risks.

Highlights

UN inter-agency mission delivers vaccines for 500,000 children in Aleppo.

2 million Syrians received food assistance in March, including about 500,000 people in opposition-held areas.

7,000 Syrian refugees register per day; overall figure reaches nearly 1.3 million.

Needs continue to outpace funding as critical sectors remain severely underfunded.

Without adequate funding, the humanitarian community in Syria and the neighboring countries won't be able reach the numbers of people planned for at the end of last year, let alone scale up further to address the growing needs, stresses OCHA's latest humanitarian bulletin.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Humanitarian actors are balancing their response efforts with promoting emergency preparedness in the MENA region.

• Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) and other common appeals have been revised to reflect changes in humanitarian needs in 2013.
There are revised appeals for Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, totalling US$ 2.1 billion and targeting 24.8 million people in need.