Praying for Peace in Iraq but Making Plans to Cope With War

Baltimore, October 22, 2002 -- Praying for peace but making plans to cope with war, Lutheran World Relief and partner organizations in and around Iraq are mobilizing staff, choosing aid sites and pre-positioning relief supplies.

In the event of war, LWR and those partners are preparing to provide food, shelter and household items for refugees and displaced people at emergency shelters and camps. Nearly $500,000 worth of relief supplies is already on the way to the crisis zone from LWR warehouses in the U.S.

Aid is to be used primarily for people inside Iraq and on the Iraqi-Jordanian border. Medical supplies will also be procured for certain hospitals in Iraq. But preparations also extend to the West Bank and Gaza-where a severe humanitarian crisis will only be sharpened if a regional war breaks out-and Turkey.

International aid officials in the region estimate that war and related deprivation could put up to eight million Iraqi citizens at risk and send 1.5 million people into Iran, Jordan, Syria and Turkey as refugees.

For more information on LWR's work in Iraq and a print-friendly fact sheet, visit LWR's Mideast web site.