The Syrian Humanitarian Response Coordinators have issued new statistics on a number of camps in parts of northwestern Syria hit by rainfall over the last two days, coinciding with the ongoing displacement during the military operations in the region.
According to the report, issued on Monday, over 5,791 families across 41 camps have been affected by heavy downpours over the past two days, amid an inability by aid agencies to contain the crisis, especially in the informal camps.
Rainfall has submerged many camps in northwestern Syria since the start of December, which has pushed hundreds of families to evacuate their tents, as a result of the rains from the flooding.
Coinciding with that, the displacement of residents is continuing in the southern and southeastern Idleb countryside due to the escalating bombardment by the regime and Russia on the area over the last few weeks. The Humanitarian Response Coordinators said more than 17,761 families (around 100,000 people) had been displaced from the region, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 16, 2019.
Winter weather and how displaced people in camps will cope is a concern for international humanitarian agencies every year. However these concerns are unable to contain the crisis for the displaced in the northern part of Syria as the war enters its ninth year, given the lack of international funding for Syria.
The director of the Humanitarian Response Coordinators, Mohamed Hallaj, previously told Alsouria Net that the response for the winter crisis was still weak and not in line with the actual needs of displaced people in the camps.
Hallaj said that the basic problem for the winter crisis was the presence of informal camps on territory that was not fit for habitation, adding that when there was a downpour, the flood and storms cut off the roads leading into these camps and made it hard to deliver aid to the people living there.
The tone of the warnings have increased this year with the growing numbers of displaced people in the camps of northern Syria due to the result of the recent military campaign in the southern Idleb countryside, which has displaced more than 960,000 people since February, according to the Humanitarian Response Coordinators, most of them headed to the border camps with Turkey or setting up informal camps on territory that is not ready for rain and flooding.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
