Although fighting between Iranian military forces and Iraqi Kurdish
separatists has subsided due to the observance of the holy month of
Ramadan, displaced families in northern Iraq are still in urgent
need for relief assistance.

IOM learnt yesterday that 311 families, including women and
children, have been displaced from the border areas and are now
sheltering in three districts of Erbil governorates of Choman, Hagi
Omran, and Sedecan. IOM is currently evaluating their needs to
provide appropriate assistance.

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"PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; BACKGROUND: rgb(51,102,204) 0% 50%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; PADDING-TOP: 3px">Watch
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"/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/graphics/interface/icons_buttons/blue_link_box.gif"> "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYS9nx3wv1Y&feature=youtu.be"
target="_blank" title="">IOM Emergency Distribution in
Sulaymaniyah

IOM continues to supply relief assistance to a further 100 newly
displaced families living in a temporary camp in the village of
Prdi Haso, in north eastern Sulaymaniyah governorate. IOM has so
far assisted a total of 275 displaced families in Sulaymaniyah.

The displacement in Sulaymaniyah comes roughly a week after IOM
initially responded to reports of shelling in the nearby village of
Qeladze. Working closely with local authorities and other partner
humanitarian agencies, including ICRC and UNHCR, IOM immediately
dispatched an assessment team to the area to identify the needs of
those displaced.

The families in Prdi Haso were forced to abandon their homes
after artillery shells landed on their village. Leaving all their
possessions behind, the displaced are now residing in makeshift
camps several miles away from their homes. They say they are
concerned about their future because they had to abandon their
crops and their livestock.

In accordance with the assessment team’s findings, relief
items were immediately sent from an IOM emergency warehouse in the
neighbouring governorate of Erbil. The families were provided with
basic supplies including bed frames, mattresses, pillows, carpets,
plastic furniture, and water purification kits.

As well as distributing relief supplies, IOM constructed two
temporary clinics in the camps. The clinics are equipped with water
filtration units and run by local doctors and medical assistants,
its staff are closely monitoring the health of the community.

"IOM will continue to monitor the situation closely and is ready
to respond to the needs of those displaced when necessary," says
IOM’s Chief of Mission Mike Pillinger.

A video news story on IOM’s assistance to displaced
communities in Northern Iraq is available at: "paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYS9nx3wv1Y&feature=youtu.be"
target="_blank" title=
"">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYS9nx3wv1Y&feature=youtu.be

For further information, please contact:

Bertram Chambers at IOM Iraq mission

Tel: +962 79 60 85 084

Email: "mailto:bchambers@iom.int">bchambers@iom.int