This morning, I spoke with a member of the San Egidio Community in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, who has been very active in responding to the needs of displaced Christian families.
He informed me that most of the 80,000 Christians displaced from the towns of Qaraqosh, Bartella and Qaramlesh spent the night in Erbil, outside the churches in the Christian neighborhood of Ain Kawa.
He also informed me that the Syriac Catholic and Orthodox churches are collaborating and there is an effort to create an emergency unit that includes Chaldean Catholics as well.
He mentioned that at present the United Nations has started to build two camps for Christian refugees in Erbil and Dohuk. They will install 5,000 tents in each camp, and will provide enough mattresses and covers, in addition to food rations, for each family.
According to him, the most urgent need is medical care and medication, especially for the chronically ill.
He promised to keep us updated with whatever statistics he can get about the needs and the proper ways to respond to the needs.
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