The French newspaper la-croix said that the plight of 3 million displaced people, who live under tents in northwestern Syria in Idlib Governorate and northern Aleppo, has been exacerbated this year by food shortages and the outbreak of the Corona epidemic.
The newspaper indicated, in a report prepared by its correspondent Pierre Cauchy, that these displaced persons, a million of whom arrived in the region less than a year ago, are no longer afraid for their lives since a ceasefire was reached in March of this year between the revolution factions and the forces of the supported regime. By Russia, as this armistice is still in effect despite some sporadic clashes.
Urgent need for food
Today, the writer says: The winter, which has begun to creep in, will worsen the situation of these vulnerable displaced people, especially since most of them are women and children, and more than a million of them live in tents.
The report indicated that the region now has 458 camps, and not all of them have the minimum sanitation facilities, and providing food for refugees represents the first emergency, according to Tu Jacobsen, deputy director of the global humanitarian organization CARE Turkey in Turkey, who says: Malnutrition is on the rise. "
Jacobsen added that only half of adults find work, with an average income of less than 35 euros per month, in daily paid jobs, often in agricultural fields.
He warned that "the economic situation in Syria is catastrophic, as the local currency is in decline, and the prices of basic foodstuffs are rising rapidly."
At the beginning of the year, when the displaced arrived in the area, NGOs were providing them with blankets, tents and a ration of basic foodstuffs sufficient for 3 days, and today they distribute monthly rations of rice, oil and spices to more than a million people.
In this context, it is estimated that 500 thousand people do not have easy access to water, and hospitals and schools are often destroyed and deserted by those who can restore them to life, according to the writer.
Corona outbreak
The report indicates that the outbreak of the Corona epidemic has exacerbated the suffering that characterizes the daily life of the displaced Syrians, as 16 thousand injuries were recorded in northwestern Syria, and more than 160 deaths were confirmed as a result of the epidemic, and that a quarter of those who took the Corona detection test during the past seven weeks were the results of their tests. Positive, despite the health measures taken by humanitarian workers since the beginning of the epidemic.
Jacobsen goes back to explaining that his organization has limited the movement of its employees in Syria in order not to contribute to the spread of infection, and has increased the points of supplies distribution in the camps for the displaced to avoid the gathering of crowds, as well as increased water points to "facilitate hand washing."
The Deputy Director of CARE stressed the need to open a crossing with Turkey to help the millions of displaced people, especially since about a thousand trucks carrying humanitarian aid arrive in these camps every month through the Bab al-Hawa crossing without the need for Damascus’s approval.