Winter Storms Bring Increased Suffering to Displaced People in Northwestern Syria
Heavy rain and snow storms this month brought increased misery to displaced Syrians living in camps scattered near the Syrian-Turkish border.
More than a million displaced people live in 1,293 camps in the rural parts of the Aleppo and Idlib governorates under opposition control. Of those encampments, 282 were informally built on agricultural lands by camp residents themselves, each camp serving as temporary home to the forcibly displaced former residents of a given village or town in Syria or to large extended families. Such informal camps usually receive no aid from international organisations.
The winter storms this January have brought damage to 266 camps, a source from a local NGO that monitors living conditions for displaced people in opposition areas told The Syria Report. Aid organisations working in the area were also unable to implement any of their usual camp improvements due to poor weather and storm damage, the source added. These organisations also lack funding to properly respond to the needs of displaced Syrians this winter.
Most displaced people in northwestern Syria are unable to secure heating supplies, while most of the camps still need rain and thermal installation for the tents to mitigate the rain and cold weather. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to the low temperatures, heavy rain, and snow without heating.
The most recent snow storm severely impacted camps located in the rugged, mountainous Afrin area in the northwestern part of the Aleppo governorate. The snow has cut off roads leading to many camps while collapsing hundreds of tents with their owners inside. Heavy rains have also flooded hundreds of tents in many of the informally built camps across rural parts of Idlib and Aleppo.
The impact of the winter storms on some camps in Afrin prompted armed opposition factions, with the help of the Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, to organise an emergency relief campaign. Hundreds of displaced families were transported to temporary shelter in mosques and service centres, while roads were reopened to allow aid delivery. The campaign also aimed to bring people impacted by the cold to safe places, provide heating and ready-made meals, replace destroyed tents and hand out winter clothing, especially for children. A number of people in local villages and towns also launched their own initiatives to host families impacted by the storm.
However, the response of international and local organisations, as well as armed militias and grassroots initiatives, remained limited as more than a million displaced people were impacted by this winter’s storms and low temperatures. Indeed, this year’s crisis is one that repeats nearly every year, alongside a increasingly limited aid response that fails to find sustainable solutions.
Source: The Syria Report