U.S. State Dept. Official To Discuss Syrian Humanitarian Crisis At Texas A&M

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - JANUARY 31: In this handout provided by the United Nation Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Residents wait in line to receive food aid distributed in the Yarmouk refugee camp on January 31, 2014 in Damascus, Syria. The United Nations renewed calls for the Syria regime and rebels to allow food and medical aid into the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk. An estimated 18,000 people are besieged inside the camp as the conflict in Syria continues. (Photo by United Nation Relief and Works Agency via Getty Images) — In this handout provided by the United Nation Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Residents wait in line to receive food aid distributed in the Yarmouk refugee camp on January 31, 2014 in Damascus, Syria. (United Nation Relief and Works Agency/Getty Images)

By Texas A&M University Bush School of Government and Public Service

Mark Ward, Director of the Syria Transitioning Assistance and Response Team at the U.S. Department of State and an expert on disaster preparedness, will discuss the situation facing those trying to provide assistance in this troubled region. Ward’s presentation is sponsored by the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University Nov. 16.

After years of an extremely violent conflict that the U.N. estimates has killed more than 70,000 people, Syrians are now mired in a humanitarian catastrophe. Providing food, medical care and other assistance remains a challenge to the many international organizations seeking to help the people of Syria.

From July 2010 to September 2011, Ward was Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) and Acting Director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Ward focused on disaster preparedness and response and civil-military cooperation during three notable disasters: the 2010 floods in Pakistan, the 2010-11 cholera outbreak in Haiti, and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Ward will speak in the Presidential Library Orientation Theater in the Bush Presidential Library and Museum from 12:20 to 1:20 p.m. His lecture is open to the public. Additional details and registration information can be found on the Bush School website.

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Media contact: Susan Robertson, 979.862.8845, srobertson@tamu.edu