Politics

BCF delivers food aid to nearly 500 families hit by Beirut explosion

On Friday, the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) announced that it had dispatched food aid to nearly 500 families affected by the fallout from the huge explosions that recently occurred at the port of Beirut.

Halgurd Sherwani 2020/08/14 18:40

middle east BCF

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Friday, the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) announced that it had dispatched food aid to nearly 500 families affected by the fallout from the huge explosions that recently occurred at the port of Beirut.

The BCF in “an international effort delivered [food] aid to 500 families,” hit by the twin explosions in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on August 4, the Kurdish charity said.

The explosions were caused by the mismanagement of nearly 2, 750 tons of confiscated ammonium nitrate that was kept in storage for many years at the port, according to initial reports.

The food aid was dispatched to the families “under the direction of his excellency Masoud Barzani,” the BCF announced.

The twin explosions badly hurt the residents of Beirut, particularly as they had already been grappling with a poor economy and the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to official figures, the two powerful blasts killed more than 170 people, wounded around 6,000 and left as many as 300,000 Beirut residents homeless.

The aid donated by the BCF contains dried foodstuffs for needy Beirut residents, according to a BCF representative in the Lebanese capital.

Immediately after the explosions, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani tweeted his condolences and, “offer[ed]… solidarity and support to the Lebanese people at this difficult time,”.

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud “thanked President Masoud Barzani” for the food aid which BCF delivered, according to a video published by BCF that included the meeting between a BCF team in Beirut and the governor.

The BCF is one of the most active humanitarian NGOs in Kurdistan, and it provides a substantial amount of aid to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in Iraq, the Kurdistan Region, and northern Syria. It also supports multiple programs to help educate and otherwise enrich the lives of displaced children.

The charity organization was founded in 2005, following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime. In its own words, it “strives to honor the great legacy of Mala Mustafa Barzani, the leader of the Kurdish Liberation Movement and influencer of the contemporary Kurdish nation.”

Editing by Laurie Mylroie