International Medical Corps was among the first humanitarian agencies delivering relief to residents of northern Iraq, where heavy rains and storms this week caused devastating flooding. Unleashing widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, the floods destroyed dozens of mud houses and inundated small towns and villages near the city of Mosul in the Sinjar region. Mosul, the center of Ninewa Province in northern Iraq, is located 250 miles northwest of Baghdad.
International Medical Corps was the first humanitarian organization to reach the villages of al-Shalan and Hay Al-teen where at least 70 houses were completely destroyed by floods. Our emergency response team collaborated with local authorities to identify and reach families in areas hardest-hit by the flooding. Local police and emergency vehicles escorted trucks through flooded roads carrying relief items provided by International Medical Corps, including mattresses, blankets, portable cooking stoves and hot water containers.
Uruba Al-Rawi, International Medical Corps’ Senior Program Manager in northern Iraq said, “The ability for us to work effectively and quickly enabled a wider distribution of relief items throughout the area.”
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, International Medical Corps has worked closely with the Ministry of Health in Iraq and other central ministries to address the needs of vulnerable populations. Our work includes the provision of primary and secondary health care services, mental health and psychosocial support, and economic livelihoods training to some of the estimated 1.5 million Iraqis displaced inside the country.