UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations called on the international community to come up with a record $13 billion in funding to reach millions of people with life-saving aid in 2014, with half of the aid ($6.8 billion) to meet the needs of Syrian people affected by the ongoing civil strife.

The $6.5 billion sought to assist millions of Syrians inside the country and across the region is the biggest amount so far requested for a single humanitarian emergency. The conflict, which began in March 2011, has left some 8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Overall the aid agencies are aiming to assist 52 million people worldwide, launching humanitarian response plans for 17 countries, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a news release.

Crises in Syria and its neighbours, as well as in Philippines and Yemen, have displaced or affected 35 million men, women and children who need emergency relief, protection and basic services to sustain them on a daily basis.

The protracted crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) has deteriorated into a major humanitarian emergency with more than half a million people displaced and half the entire population in urgent need of aid.

“As we look towards the fourth year of this appalling crisis, its brutal impact on millions of Syrians is testing the capacity of the international community to respond,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said at the launch of the appeals in Geneva.

“I have seen people in desperate circumstances in the Central African Republic and Yemen, the typhoon-devastated parts of the Philippines and in many other countries I have visited this year,” said Ms. Amos, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.