"We left Moria hoping for something better and, ultimately, it's worse." Sazan, a 20-year-old Afghan, has just been transferred, with a thousand compatriots, from the saturated Greek island of Lesbos to Nea Kavala camp in northern Greece.

After six months in the "hell" of Moria on the island of Lesbos, Sazan feels helpless on his arrival in Nea Kavala, where he notes "the difficulty of access to running water and electricity."

Next to him, Mohamed Nour, 28, surrounded by his three children, digs the earth in front of his makeshift tent to make a channel "to protect the family in case of rain".

One thousand refugees and migrants are settled in 200 tents, the others will be transferred "to other camps in the north of the country," said a source from the Ministry of Citizen Protection, without further details.

The massive arrival of hundreds of migrants and refugees last week in Lesbos, the main immigration gateway in Europe, has taken the Greek authorities by surprise, who have decided to transfer them to camps on the continent. Because the camp of Moria, the principal of Lesbos, one of the most important and unhealthy of Europe, has exceeded four times its capacity these last months.

In July alone, more than 5,520 people landed in Lesbos - a record since the beginning of the year - to which 3,250 migrants were added during the first 15 days of August, according to the International Organization for Migration ( IOM).

"I hope to leave here very quickly"

"We thought Moria was the worst thing that could happen to us," says Mohamed, who is trying to get his family into a makeshift tent. "We were told that our stay would be temporary but we have been there for two days and the conditions are not good, I hope to leave here very quickly."

Teams from the camp have been working since Monday to install additional tents, but toilets and hygiene facilities are not enough. The ministry promised that before the end of the month, migrants would be transferred to other camps.

But Tamim, 15, has been staying in Nea Kavala for three months: "We were told the same thing (that we would be transferred) when we arrived. [...] In Moria, it was better, at least we had English classes, here we do nothing, "he told AFP.

For Angelos, a 35-year-old camp employee, "it takes more doctors and infrastructure to meet the needs of hundreds of children."

Greek government wants to tighten controls

More than 70 000 migrants and refugees are currently stranded in Greece since the borders closed in Europe after the EU-Turkey declaration of March 2016 to stop the migratory route to the Greek islands.

Right-wing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, elected at the beginning of July, abolished the Migration Policy Ministry, created during the 2015 migration crisis, and this file is now entrusted to the Ministry of Citizen Protection.

Faced with the upsurge of arrivals in Greece via the Greek-Turkish land and sea borders since January 2019, the government announced on Saturday a package of measures ranging from the strengthening of border control and undocumented migrants to the removal of the right of appeal for asylum applications rejected at first instance.

Refugee NGOs have criticized these measures, denouncing the "hardening" of migration policy.

The majority of migrants arriving in Greece hope, as a "final" destination, a country of central or western Europe.

"I'm with my family here, we want to live in Austria," confirms Korban, 19, who arrived in Nea Kavala on Tuesday.

"In Moria, brawling and jostling were daily, it was hell, the only thing left for us now is to be patient and to have hope," he says.

Report of Vassilis Kyrakoulis published by AFP