The Syrian coastal camps complain of the scarcity of aid and the curse of geography

Most of the camp residents are displaced from the Syrian coast, especially the city of Latakia and its countryside (Al Jazeera)

Idlib -

Samia Najm sets out every morning towards the mountainous areas near the Khirbet al-Joz camps located in the western countryside of Idlib, separating the countryside of Idlib and Latakia in northern Syria.

Samia leaves her tent every morning to collect firewood from forest trees in order to provide warmth for her children, after losing her hope of obtaining support for this year’s winter from humanitarian organizations.

Samia said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, "It is said that the displaced are below the poverty line, but we have opened the line of death. Living among the mountains makes the weather colder, not to mention the scarcity of support and the lack of job opportunities, so we are living in disastrous conditions."

She added, "If a child gets sick because of the cold weather, the family is at a loss as to how to save him. Hospitals are very far away, and there are only a few medical points here that provide first aid."

Thousands of displaced people live in mountainous areas within the areas of the western Idlib countryside and the northern Idlib countryside, and they are called the Syrian coast camps, as most of their residents are from the city of Latakia and its countryside.

The residents of these camps live within a very rugged, mountainous geographical area, and they are more than 200 kilometers away from the vital areas in northern Idlib and the organizations’ center of presence, making it difficult for the organizations to reach them.

The people of the coastal camps complain of great injustice to which they are exposed, despite the cold weather and the lack of work opportunities. Because they live in the mountains and there are no markets for trade, and humanitarian organizations do not send them aid or heating means.

The rugged roads make it difficult for humanitarian organizations to work (Al Jazeera)

Scarcity of support

Muhammad Sino, displaced from the Latakia countryside after the Syrian regime took control of his village, moved to camps near the “Al-Maland” area in the western Idlib countryside. He complains that his tent sank and he has no shelter during the past days.

Muhammad Sino tells Al Jazeera Net that he and his five children were forced to live with his sister's family in a 40-meter tent, due to the lack of additional tents, as hundreds of families were displaced in the area where he lives, as he put it.

He added that the area inhabited by coastal residents is oppressed compared to the support provided to the camps in the Sarmada and Dana areas, close to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing in northern Syria, which is a center for the offices of humanitarian organizations, while there is an almost complete absence of support in this area.

According to statistics from volunteer organizations and teams, the owners of these camps live in extreme poverty amid the cold weather, as most of their residents do not have firewood for heating, which prompted Syrian activists to launch an aid campaign for these camps, which they described as forgotten.

Many women work in collecting firewood and selling it in order to secure a living, at a time when most of the camp’s residents suffer from unemployment, unlike the displaced people who live near cities and organizations’ work centers, where they have greater access to job opportunities.

Camp residents suffer from extreme poverty in light of the harsh climate conditions and scarcity of aid (Al Jazeera)

Suffering in numbers

Omar Al-Saeed - a displaced person from the city of Latakia - decided to collect old clothes and buy used clothes from the market near the area where he lives in order to keep warm this year, but this caused smoke to be emitted inside his tent that almost suffocated his children, which forced him to keep warm on firewood.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Omar says that he sends his children every day to the mountains of the Syrian coast with bags, “and they do not return until they collect firewood that is enough for us for two days, and I give more than that to my neighbors who do not have anything to keep warm.”

He added, "My heart breaks for my children when I send them to fetch firewood, because they come back soaked in water and shivering from the cold, but I have no help. I am sick and cannot climb mountains, and there is no alternative to this matter."

The Syria Response Coordinators team monitored a number of difficulties faced by displaced people in camps in the northwest of the country, including the difficulty of securing bread and food, the spread of fires and skin diseases, and water and sanitation problems.

The team issued a report in which it said that 86% of the camps are facing a food security crisis, while the displaced are suffering in 94% of the camps. Due to the shortage of bread and its high prices.

He pointed out that 61% of the camps do not have sanitation service, and the percentage rises to 100% in random camps, and clean and potable water is absent in 48% of the camps (819 camps).

The report recorded an increase in skin diseases in more than 23% of the camps, and 87% of them lacked mobile clinics or medical points.

69% of the camps do not contain educational points, while the percentage of working children in them reached more than 37%, according to the report.

The team revealed that the number of people in need of humanitarian aid in Syria has risen to 17.3 million people, the highest percentage since 2011.

Children collect firewood from the mountains in order to heat and prepare food (Al Jazeera)

Over the past few days, volunteer teams and humanitarian organizations have begun to shed light on the suffering of the camps, with the aim of drawing attention to them in order to provide them with support during the winter.

Humanitarian activist Abdul Jabbar Al-Zaidan confirms that the emergency response team launched a campaign to heat 5,000 families worth $250,000, and relief convoys will be sent to that area in order to deliver heating materials to those in need.

He added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that this covers only 20% of the families in need of heating, so the campaign must include all organizations in order to satisfy all the displaced people on the Syrian coast, as the size of the requirements is large, from food support to hygiene materials and fuel.

Source: Al Jazeera