UN doubles humanitarian appeal for Syria

(Vatican Radio) The United Nations doubled its humanitarian appeal for Syria on Friday, seeking $347 million for people in need, including more than half a million children forced to flee their homes.

With no end in sight to the conflict in Syria, the number of people in need of aid has doubled since July to 2.5 million.

This rise has now prompted a dramatic increase in the U.N. appeal for aid.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged donors to increase their contributions despite the fact that the original appeal for $180 million is only half-funded.

John Ging, the Director of Operations at the UN humanitarian agency says the numbers of growing...

The European Union also announced Friday it will provide an additional 60 million euro in humanitarian aid to Syria.

The new U.N. humanitarian plan will focus on health, food, livelihoods, repairing infrastructure, community services, education and shelter in conflict areas including Homs, Hama, Idlib, Damascus, and Aleppo. Listen