The tragic events of this past month have led to a horrific loss of life and destruction throughout parts of Gaza and southern Israel.
EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) staff and communities have been directly affected at all levels including two communities that are part of our Good Water Neighbours project, the Eshkol Regional Council in Israel and Abasan Al Kabireh municipality in Gaza. While the Israeli government has the resources to respond to the financial needs of the Eshkol community, in Gaza the Mayor of Abasan Al Kabireh has few resources and thus has turned directly to FoEME to ask for immediate assistance.
Current estimates, by the Mayor, include estimates an urgent need of $10,000 per month to help provide his community of 21,000 people with clean drinking water. In response to the urgent request from the Mayor of Abassan, EcoPeace/FoEME launched an emergency appeal in August to help resupply clean water to Abassan, while concurrently preventing the outbreak of disease. The municipality and its population’s needs are urgent and unfortunately will remain so for several months to come until international development agencies begin recovery efforts throughout Gaza.
We are proud to report though, that as of today, EcoPeace/FoEME has raised enough funds to support the municipality’s water needs for three months. Water containers and water, such as the one above, have been imported into Abassan for the resident’s use. The next steps include rehabilitation of an old well, repair upon the small desalinization plant, and additional water containers and water brought into Abasan.
FoEME and the people of Abasan are still asking for your individual support in this time of need as we don’t know how long the water crisis and lack of proper sanitation will continue.
We thank those who have contributed so far, additional donations can be made via FoEME’s PayPal account by going to our donation page.
Click
http://foeme.org/uploads/FoEME_INSS_Gaza_Report_Final.pdf
to read our recent paper on the Water, Sanitation and Energy Crisis in Gaza
http://foeme.org/www/?module=projects&project_id=54