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Middle East: Cold Wave - Jan 2015

Disaster description

Winter storm Huda (called Zeina in Lebanon) started sweeping across the Middle East on 6 Jan 2015, bringing heavy snow and rainfall, high winds and freezing temperatures to tens of thousands of refugees living in camps and makeshift shelters across the region. In Lebanon, the Red Cross estimated that close to 1,000,000 people were affected and around 2,000 people would need EMS and search and rescue services (IFRC, 12 Jan 2015). In Jordan's Za'atari camp the extreme weather flooded homes, collapsed tents and forced hundreds to wait out the storms in emergency shelters or with neighbours and relatives (UNHCR, 9 Jan 2015).

On 16 Jan, the Syria Humanitarian Coordinator called on the international community to urgently fund winter response, as the winterization plan, which was launched in October 2014 and targets 3.3 million people inside Syria, remained underfunded by $70 million (OCHA, 16 Jan 2015).

OPT: An initial DREF was launched on the 2nd of February 2015 for CHF 147,131 to cover 1,130 families. A revision of budget and activities was undertaken on the 26th of March 2015, including a second operation for cold wave. As a result, a second allocation was approved on 27 March 2015 for CHF 35,328 to cover additional 350 families.Therefore the total allocation of the DREF remained as CHF 182,459, in order to assist 1,480 families. IFRC, 22 June 2015

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