Heavy rainfall on Thursday caused severe flooding in rural areas of northern Syria, destroying tents at 11 refugee camps and leaving tens of thousands of people to face the winter without shelter.
According to Anadolu Agency , the flood has left an estimated 25,000 refugees searching for shelter at other camps.
Suffering of more than 5.6 million Syrians mount in the winter season amid lack of basic supplies, shelter and blankets in the opposition-held areas and neighbouring Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq.
No casualties have yet been reported as a result of the flooding, but numerous heads of livestock have reportedly perished.
Requests for emergency assistance have so far been received from the Atme, Qah, Omar and Khirbat al-Jawz refugee camps in the northwestern Latakia province.
Mustafa Yusuf, director of Syria’s White Helmets civil-defense organization, told Anadolu Agency that the organization had received numerous requests for urgent assistance.
“Since yesterday afternoon, our agency has been conducting search-and-rescue operations,” Yusuf said Thursday.
The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), for its part, has announced that temporary shelters would soon be erected with the help of several local NGOs.
Displaced people are waiting for the organizations and camp administrations to start preparing for the winter months by providing insulators and heating devices that will enable them to withstand the difficult months ahead. For many displaced persons, this wait will be longer given the increase in the number of people arriving to the camps fleeing the fighting in the Syrian Jizera area.
Syrian Refugees are particularly vulnerable during winter months when temperatures dip below freezing as already desperate and destitute refugee families cannot cope with the costs of heating, insulation and adequate clothing.
Refugee camp managers and organizations operating in the region said none of them have started preparing for the winter, nor are there any plans in the short term to prepare.
Some 5.6 million Syrian refugees remain in neighboring countries – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq – Amin Awad, UNHCR director for the Middle East and North Africa, told a news briefing. Some 37,000 have returned this year, UNHCR figures show.
Since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, more than 560,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced. Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies
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