Monday 20 June 2016
Baladi News – Idlib (Ahmed al-Ali)
Thousands of Syrian displaced families, mostly from the country sides of Western Idlib, Hama, and Aleppo, reside in haphazardly built temporary camps along the crossing borders with Turkey. The camps, where more than half a million people live under harsh conditions, lack electricity and water as well as basic medical and humanitarian services, whereas the recent heat wave during the fasting month came to aggravate their sufferings.
Abu Mohammed, a refugee in Atama camp, said to Baladi News “Most families live under tragic conditions in Nylon tents during Ramadan. Such camps cannot protect against the summer heat reaching 40o degrees. It becomes more difficult due to power outage as generators are not operated due to high diesel prices.”
The speaker added that many families are deprived of cold water, and that their fast breaking meals are limited to bread and dates. Several families are unable to buy meet due to their deteriorated financial conditions.
Whenever the sunset approaches, signs of grief appear on the face of Haj Khaled Abu Firas. The old man raises his hands and prays, hoping that the tragedy would end soon and he would go back home.
Activist Faisal al-Ali, a humanitarian worker in the camp, said that most refugees are children, women, and old people living in harsh conditions because the camps, despite their big numbers, do not receive the required attention by Arabic and international organizations.
Faisal recommends that the best solution would be seeking to improve the shelters of the displaced by building residential units that could protect them from summer heat and cold. The shelters must also be equipped with power generators that could meet the requirements in summer.
It is noteworthy that some displaced people are spending their fifth Ramadan in worn-out tents that became uninhabitable, under indifference by international organization, the interim government, and the national coalition.