From Croatia to Haiti to Iraq, Cooperation between Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help and International Medical Corps has proven itself for a decade
Ten years of joint aid missions worldwide
From Croatia to Haiti to Iraq, Cooperation between Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help and International Medical Corps has proven itself for a decade
2021 marks the tenth anniversary of exemplary humanitarian cooperation across borders: International Medical Corps (Los Angeles) and Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help e.V. (LOG, Frankfurt am Main) have worked in over a dozen countries in the past decade responding to natural, man-made and public hazard disasters. Joint humanitarian aid delivery is currently focused on the residents of the earthquake-affected area of Banovina region, southeast from Croatia’s capital city, Zagreb, where thousands of people have been left homeless after dozens of violent tremors. LOG and International Medical Corps currently work hand in hand in this region of Croatia that also suffered heavy war related damage in the past. International Medical Corps focuses on providing assistance to the country’s Ministry of Health to restore healthcare services for affected populations, and LOG delivers essential items such as food, clothing, blankets and protective masks. It also promotes education by providing equipment for computer classes in the primary school in the city of Glina.
The cooperation between the two organizations began over ten years ago, after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. There, tremors of magnitude 7 devastated large parts of the island state, over 200,000 people died and almost two million became homeless – a third of the total population of Haiti, which is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, according to the World Bank. Both organizations immediately responded with lifesaving assistance. Aid was similarly coordinated in the Philippines when several typhoons hit the island nation in 2013 and 2014, leaving tens of thousands dead and homeless.
Northern Iraq suffered one of the heaviest tragedies in the Middle East when the Yazidi tribe was expelled by ISIS in 2014/2015 to the Sinjar Mountains and then surrounded there. Many other people have been displaced from their homes during the conflict and have settled in camps across northern Iraq. The two partners collaborated to save and improve the lives of conflict victims: LoG organized direct charter flights and a truck convoy with relief supplies from Germany to Erbil in Kurdistan in collaboration with International Medical Corps, which—as the partner on the ground—provided medical care to displaced populations. Both organizations still provide assistance in Iraq, where the German aid organization recently delivered essential relief supplies.