UN / NORTHWEST SYRIA SITUATION

STORY: UN / NORTHWEST SYRIA SITUATION
TRT: 01:37
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 24 JANUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters

24 JANUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press room dais with Mark Cutts on screen
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Cutts, Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, United Nations:
“It’s a war zone. People have fled from many different parts of the country. They're living there in very difficult conditions. But now during this extremely cold weather, we've seen some real horror scenes in the last few days. About 1000 tents have either collapsed completely or been very badly damaged as a result of heavy snow in some areas and freezing temperatures. Temperatures down to minus seven in some cases.”
4. Wide shot, journalists, Cutts on screen
5. Mark Cutts, Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, United Nations:
“It's a real disaster zone. Our humanitarian workers have been pulling people out from under these collapsed tents. Many of these people do not have shovels or other equipment to clear the snow, so they've been clearing snow from their tents with their bare hands. You see pictures of children walking in the snow and on the ice in their sandals. It's really, you know, particularly bad for the elderly people and people with disabilities who are living in these torn, and ripped, and flimsy tents in these sub-zero temperatures. So, we're really appealing to the international community, to do more to recognize the scale of the crisis and to help us to get these people out of tents into safer, more dignified, temporary shelter.”
6. Wide shot, journalists, Cutts on screen

STORYLINE:

The United Nations Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, Mark Cutts today (24 Jan) appealed for help from the international community as refugee camps in the Northwest conflict area have been “very badly damaged as a result of heavy snow in some areas and freezing temperatures.”

Speaking to journalists in New York via video teleconference from Turkey, Cutts said, “It’s a war zone. People have fled from many different parts of the country. They're living there in very difficult conditions. But now during this extremely cold weather, we've seen some real horror scenes in the last few days.”

The humanitarian official said it was “a real disaster zone” and noted that humanitarian workers “have been pulling people out from under these collapsed tents” and have been “clearing snow from their tents with their bare hands” due to the lack of proper equipment.

He said, “you see pictures of children walking in the snow and on the ice in their sandals. It's really, you know, particularly bad for the elderly people and people with disabilities who are living in these torn, and ripped, and flimsy tents in these sub-zero temperatures.”

Cutts called on the international community “to recognize the scale of the crisis and to help us to get these people out of tents into safer, more dignified, temporary shelter.”

There are some 2.8 million displaced people living in the area, mostly in camps.

The 4 billion US dollar 2020 humanitarian appeal for Syria was only 45 percent fulfilled.