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Doualy Xaykaothao

Syrian refugees experience 'worst humanitarian crisis in decades'

Migrants climb over a fence
Migrants climb over fences after running from a collection point that had been set up to transport people to camps on September 9, 2015 in Morahalom, Hungary.
Dan Kitwood | Getty Images

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The head of Minneapolis-based American Refugee Committee says the Syrian refugee crisis is the most catastrophic humanitarian disaster he's seen in the last two decades. "It's about four times the size of the Haiti earthquake in terms of human suffering," President and CEO Daniel Wordsworth told MPR News host Tom Weber.

"It's taken four years for people to see the human suffering. And what you're seeing is, it's a little like the reverberations of a humanitarian earthquake, and the reverberations of this now have moved through the region, and now they're striking the shores of Europe," Wordsworth added.

The American Refugee Committee group has partnered with a non-profit working on the ground in Syria to distribute emergency items and help with water and sanitation support.

More than four million people have fled Syria since fighting broke out in 2011, according to United Nations estimates. Millions more are displaced within their country.

The crisis has grabbed international attention, as thousands of Syrians have risked their lives on dangerous journeys trying to get to Europe.