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| John Ging, the U.N. Operations Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), speaks at a press conference in Damascus, Syria, Jan. 21, 2013. The OCHA delegation arrived in Syria on Friday on a mission to gauge the impact of the long-standing crisis on the humanitarian aspects. (Xinhua/Bassem Tellawi) |
DAMASCUS, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Visiting UN official stressed Monday that the humanitarian situation in Syria's hotspots is " shocking," calling for more international funds to help people in the war-engulfed country.
John Ging, the director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said during a press conference in the Syrian capital Damascus that 519 million U.S. dollars were allocated to meet the humanitarian needs in Syria, but only 50 percent of which has been funded.
A pledging conference will be held in Kuwait at the end of January to raise funds, the UN humanitarian official added.
He made an "urgent and desperate" appeal to bring the long- standing crisis to an end, calling on the conflicting parties to stop "destroying their country."
The United Nations said there are an estimated 4 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Syria, including at least 2 million who are internally displaced.
The UN team, which arrived in Syria on Friday, has visited several areas in Syria, including the central province of Homs, and Daraa province in southern the country.
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