Almost $13 billion is needed this year - about a third of that amount for Syria and its neighboring countries - to provide aid to 73 million people, the top U.N. humanitarian official said Wednesday. "That's an extra $8.6 billion to raise by the end of the year," Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said from Geneva as she gave a snapshot of the organization's mid-year humanitarian assessment. Calling 2013 an "extraordinary year," Amos, who is also the U.N. Emergency Coordinator, stressed that millions of people around the world desperately need help feeding their families, treating malnourished children, and getting safe drinking water and other essential supplies. At least $4.4 billion of the budgeted need is for Syria, where some 5,000 people are being killed every month. According to the United Nations, the two-year conflict has also sparked the worst refugee crisis in 20 years, with an average of 6,000 people a day fleeing the country in 2013. In addition to Syria, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which Amos heads, and its partners are working to help people in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Sudan, and Yemen, among others. More than $5 billion has been provided for humanitarian organizations in 24 countries so far this year, Amos said.
