{"id":745,"date":"2016-03-09T09:17:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T09:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cordaid.org\/en\/?p=745"},"modified":"2022-08-31T09:30:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T09:30:36","slug":"strong-need-dutch-aid-eastern-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cordaid.org\/en\/news\/strong-need-dutch-aid-eastern-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong need for Dutch aid in Eastern Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It almost seemed as if the crisis in Ukraine had disappeared from the news, if it weren\u2019t for a Dutch referendum on The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. However, the humanitarian disaster in the country remains ever so poignant: 1.6 million people have been displaced and 3.1 million people are dependent on aid \u2013 mainly the elderly, the chronically ill and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fuel<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Although there are still no massive international aid operations, Cordaid and three other members of the\u00a0Dutch Relief Alliance\u00a0(DRA) provide better housing, health care and food for 25,000 Ukrainians. \u201cWe are a humanitarian organization. Where people are in need, we step into the breach\u201d, says humanitarian aid coordinator Paul Borsboom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 3% of what is needed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The UN calculated in the\u00a0Humanitarian Response Plan\u00a0for Ukraine that about $300 million is needed to provide the most urgent aid. Only 3% of that amount has been paid by Member States.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Paul
Paul Borsboom<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainians in the region along the long front line in the east are literally left in the cold: their homes are damaged, the heating does not work, money circulation is going awry so pensions will not be paid and people have nowhere to go for medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Active Dutch aid organizations in buffer zones in the front area<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is why in August and September of last year we decided to provide emergency aid together with the Dutch government,\u201d Borsboom explains. Four members of the Dutch Relief Alliance \u2013 Dorcas Aid International, Cordaid, Save the Children and Terre des Hommes \u2013 are now active in the east. With our joint support, we reach more than 25,000 displaced people in the buffer zones, where there has been heavy fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their houses are shot, they cannot go to a bank to withdraw money, cannot go to a doctor and they cannot protect themselves against the cold.<\/p>

Paul Borsboom, aid coordinator<\/small><\/p> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Housing, food, health care<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The aid focuses on food, health care and housing, during six months, from December 2015 until the end of May 2016:<\/p>\n\n\n\n