relief
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GC: n

S: UN – https://bit.ly/2SjtUCJ (last access: 3 February 2019); UNRWA – https://bit.ly/2sjBV9Q (last access: 3 February 2019).

N: 1. Late 14c., “alleviation of distress, hunger, sickness, etc; state of being relieved; that which mitigates or removes” (pain, grief, evil, etc.),” from Anglo-French relif, from Old French relief “assistance,” literally “a raising, that which is lifted,” from stressed stem of relever (see relieve). Meaning “aid to impoverished persons” is attested from c. 1400; that of “deliverance of a besieged town” is from c. 1400. Earlier in English as “that which is left over or left behind,” also “feudal payment to an overlord made by an heir upon taking possession of an estate” (both c. 1200).
2. Assistance and/or intervention during or after disaster to meet the life preservation and basic subsistence needs. It can be of emergency or protracted duration. (UN DHA).
3. Whenever there is a disaster or a humanitarian catastrophe, the UN is on the ground providing relief, support and assistance.
From the population displacements caused by war, weather and natural disasters, to the impact of such disruptions on health, hygiene, education, nutrition and even basic shelter, the UN is there, making a difference.
Thanks to the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), food is made available to those who might otherwise starve. Thanks to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), camps and other facilities are set up and maintained for those who have been forced to leave their homes.
4. Collocations: food/money/medicine given to people in need.

  • Adj.: humanitarian | emergency | famine, flood | foreign, international.
  • Verb + relief: give sb, provide (sb with), send (sb) The organization provides emergency famine relief.
  • Relief + noun: work | effort, operation | package, programme | aid, supplies | agency, fund, organization | staff, worker | convoy, flight.

S: 1. OED – https://bit.ly/2Tv1ZwP (last access: 3 February 2019). 2. GLOSS RW – https://bit.ly/2G2p1YO (last access: 3 February 2019). 3. UNIS – https://bit.ly/2S5XD2t (last access: 3 February 2019). 4. OCD – https://bit.ly/2D8Iwek (last access: 2 February 2019).

SYN: relief assistance

S: UN – https://bit.ly/2SjtUCJ (last access: 3 February 2019)

CR: relief operations