UK Aid Worker Responding to Iran/Iraq Earthquake Available for Interview

Omar Ali, a British aid worker based in Erbil, Iraq who was in a 19 storey building when an earthquake hit on November 12^th is available for interview live from the ground. Omar Ali is the Programme Director in Iraq for the leading UK NGO in Mosul, Human Appeal. Omar and Human Appeal were one of the first NGOs providing aid and relief to victims of the earthquake.

Human Appeal are responding in the badly affected area of Darbandikan. Human Appeal have deployed their mobile medical teams and our shelter teams are undertaking damage assessments of homes and public infrastructure. Human Appeal are in discussion with local authorities, who are setting up a committee with representatives from each directorate to help coordinate the aid response. Human Appeal are launching a fundraising campaign to help provide aid to survivors.

Omar Ali describes the situation on the ground:

"There has been significant damage to the local hospital, who have seen their patients relocated to public health centres who need support with regards to medical supplies and tents. Some homes have been completely destroyed and many families have been displaced. Some are sleeping in parks.

"Estimates of how many homes have been damaged reach up to 300. Schools have also been damaged. 400 families near a dam have been advised to evacuate, due to fears that it could burst."

Email [email protected] or call 07535 415 060 for more information or to book an interview with Omar Ali. Images of the damage are available here https://www.mediafire.com/file/ai22d5ycel86294/Darbandikhan.rar

Notes to Editors

Human Appeal (www.humanappeal.org.uk) is one of the UK’s fastest growing charities. With a presence in 25 countries, spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and here in the UK, we help in times of crisis and we deliver sustainable development programmes in the world’s poorest nations.

Omar Ali is available for interview or to provide guest content from the ground in Mosul. Other Human Appeal spokespeople are also available for interview on this and other topics.

Under Omar Ali who left his home in Sussex last year to start the world-leading mission in Iraq, Human Appeal have achieved the following:

• The largest food assistance programme in Mosul, their daily food parcel distributions are reaching over 360,000 people in the city with the World Food Programme (WFP).
• Rehabilitating 30 schools in Mosul to ensure 21,000 children can start school this month with UNOCHA.
• Providing urgent shelter kits to over 216,000 people were homeless during the conflict or living in homes damaged by the violence.
• Providing essential Non-Food Item (NFI) kits to 125,000 people in Mosul and greater Ninewa.
• Providing clean water daily to 25,000 people living in the most heavily destroyed neighbourhoods in West Mosul.
• Running a mobile Medical Clinic across 5 camps offering so far 15,000 people access to a gynaecologist, dermatologist, paediatrician, psychiatrist, internal medicine consultant, minor surgery consultant and numerous nurses.
• The first NGO working in West Mosul after it was retaken from ISIS by Iraqi forces.