LIFE's Emergency Activities Since The Beginning Of The War
Tuesday, August 15, 2006

LIFE for Relief & Development began its work in Iraq long before the war had begun.

 As the conflict escalated, hospitals in Iraq began to shut down, and medical supplies and services became scarce. Soon after the war, Iraq’s infrastructure for law and order disappeared and the Iraqi people began to deal with a humanitarian crisis caused by looting, lawlessness, and a growing shortage of food and medical supplies. It was during these stages, before, during, and after the war, that LIFE has been working hard responding to the emergency situations occuring in Iraq as they occurred. LIFE’s emergency activities since April 8, 2003 are highlighted below.

 LIFE was instrumental in re-opening and running the Iraqi Red Crescent Surgical Hospital in Al-Mansour, Baghdad after it closed down due to the collapse of the Iraqi infrastructure. LIFE paid the salaries for the hospital staff and supplied much needed medicine and equipment. Because of the looting, lack of security, and the shortages in gasoline, hospital staff faced difficulty in coming to the hospital to work. LIFE facilitated their transportation, hired security personnel to protect the hospital from looters and kept the hospital running. It was very important to open this hospital as early as possible to treat the many injured people while most other hospitals remained closed and were unable to resume operations.

LIFE clinic in Basrah remained open during the war and continues to offer its services to the residents of the city today.

 LIFE partnered with AmeriCares to receive the first medical shipment from an NGO arriving in Iraq by air. The shipment consisted of four 40 ft containers of valuable medicine and medical supplies. The contents of this shipment were distributed to:

Al Yarmouk Hospital in Baghdad
Al-Kindy Hospital in Baghdad.
Al-Numan Hospital in Baghdad.
Samaraa Hospital in Samaraa.
A health clinic in Al-Falooja.
A health clinic in Al-Shulaa, Baghdad.
Shurahbeel clinic in Baghdad.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Clinic in Al-Baladiyat, Baghdad.
LIFE’s clinic in Basrah
LIFE was instrumental in allowing students to resume and complete their classes at the University of Technology. The university was heavily looted and damaged. The university submitted a list of urgent items needed to resume its activities or the students would lose their academic year. The university has 11 departments and over 11000 students. LIFE was the first NGO to visit, and fulfill its promise to help.

 LIFE formed 5 teams to assess the extent of damage and looting that occurred in the schools in Baghdad. The teams started work in the villages surrounding Baghdad, slowly moving toward the center of the city. Thus far, over 300 schools have been surveyed by our teams. The final reports will be presented to ORHA, UNICEF and other NGOs.