Govt spent SR850m on Syrian refugees

TABUK: The Kingdom has spent about SR850 million over the past five years to help Syrian refugees with food, education, accommodation and health services in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.

This includes assistance in Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp to 2.1 million people living inside and outside the facility, almost 1 million in Turkey, and more than 1.5 million in Lebanon, according a local media report on Monday.
In the Zaatari camp, the Kingdom provided 3,500 caravans, with another 1,000 being built. It also rented 5,800 apartments for people with disabilities and widows in Jordan and Lebanon for between six and 12 months.
The Saudi government provided thousands of fire-resistant tents to the refugees in Jordan and Turkey and set up 14 furnished mosques in Zaatari. It also distributed 400 food baskets in Syria and neighboring countries with basic foodstuffs, in addition to 1.2 million iftar meals.
It slaughtered 1,300 lambs for 9,000 families in Jordan and Lebanon. And distributed more than 65,000 kg and 180,000 cans of meat, and over 300,000 bags of bread in Jordan.
The Kingdom further set up four mobile ovens in Turkey with a production capacity of 120,000 loaves of bread a day, and distributed 10,000 hospitality meals, including thousands of tons of dates, rice and flour, for Syrian refugees on the Jordanian-Syrian border.
It set up 15 land bridges with more than 700 trucks loaded with relief and food, in addition to winter clothing to Jordan, and around 80 trucks for Syrians inside their country. There were also 10 planes loaded with 10,000 tons of food and relief aid sent to Turkey.
The campaign transported winter and relief materials made in China and Turkey to its offices in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. There were also five mobile desalination plants set up in Turkey with a capacity of 20,000 liters an hour.
The Kingdom set up special hospitals in Zaatari with 13 specialized clinics, a psychology support unit, a lab, X-ray department and a specialized pharmacy. Clinics treated 500,000 patients and provided 15 ambulances prepared with medical equipment to Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
The campaign’s office in Lebanon and Jordan supported health centers to treat Syrian refugees costing more than $250,000 and took on the task of carrying out caesarian and normal deliveries for more than 1,300 Syrian mothers, including providing clothing for newborns. There were also reconstructive surgeries performed on hundreds of Syrian refugees.
In winter, it provided more than 6,500 heaters for refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, with kerosene at a cost of SR9 million, and 7.5 million pieces of winter clothing.
The campaign provided 6,000 scholarships in Lebanon, and established the Saudi center for training and education in Zaatari for training hundreds in dressmaking, drawing, computers and cooking. It secured 450,000 school bags with stationary for those in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.