According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Turkey, the winter storm damaged 362 tents and affected 2,124 displaced Syrians living in camps in Syria.
A child was killed at a camp in Syria’s Kastal Mikdad after a tent collapsed on his roof due to accumulation of snow. The OCHA said the child’s mother is in the intensive care unit.
A 3-year-old and a 5-year-old died at a camp north of Aleppo, Syria, on Monday morning after a heater caused their tents to catch fire. According to the White Helmets, a group of volunteer rescue workers in Syria who responded to the incident, the mother of two children suffered severe burns and was taken to hospital.
Two children in camps in Bulbul, Syria, experienced a severe drop in body temperature during the cold weather. The OCHA said both children were being treated at a hospital in Afrin, Syria.
“It’s another blow to people whose lives are already beyond unbearable. People can see their breath lying on their thin mattresses; you’ll see kids walking around in flip-flops and torn shirts. Families There is a fear they will freeze to death,” said CARE’s Syria country director Jolian Veldwijk.
crisis in crisis
Syria’s civil war in 2011 began with the arrest of a handful of children during Arab Spring protests in March 2011. Since then, it has turned into a humanitarian crisis that has killed more than 350,000 people and forced millions – about half the population – out of their homes.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 6.7 million people are internally displaced in Syria. Another 6.8 million live as refugees in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
CARE said many of the displaced have taken refuge in unfinished buildings, sheds, informal settlements and tents, which lack adequate security and are exposed to brutal winter conditions. This week’s inclement weather is making those living conditions worse.
“These children and the elderly need more support as they struggle to survive in vulnerable tents in sub-zero temperatures,” said Mark Cutts, the UN’s deputy regional humanitarian coordinator.
Care said that in Lebanon, refugees live in informal settlements, where they lack protection from the elements.
Veldwijk said that “while snowfall and sub-zero temperatures are not uncommon in the Middle East,” climate change is playing a role, and is increasing flooding and rainfall.
“Accidental flooding is only washing away tents and some of the stuff that people were able to bombard their homes with. Winters are becoming harsher and deadlier, while families are better able to deal with lower temperatures,” Veldwijk said.
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