About 700 families in the camps of “Qah” and “Al-Gharbaa” north of Idlib are threatened to leave them due to the humanitarian organizations’ negligence and the setting up of tents on the olive farmlands

The tragedies of displaced people renew every winter in the recent 8 years, and with the first drops of rain, they pray to get past and survive the winter, and as soon as the summer comes, they pray to get past and survive it, with an overwhelming desire by the inhabitants of these camps to be salvaged part of this housing, in this way, the 4 seasons pass in the camps of the Syrian North which are located along the Turkish – Syrian border, and as soon as the blessing rain falls, the good turns into curse over the inhabitants of these camps, where the general situation gets worse with the muddy roads being cut off as well as the floods, the inhabitants in these camps also suffer from the tents they have been sheltered into and the poor organization of setting them up as well as the lack of delivered services, where the most of tents have been torn by the weather also they were set up many years ago, the tents’ owners set them up on agricultural land on soil which turns -with the fall of rain- into mud that spreads throughout the camp, and the matter that increases the crisis is the damaged tents which are not able to stand before the heavy rains in winter, also setting them up without a cement base makes them insufficiently supported to withstand rainstorms and weather changes in general, while repairs continue of the tents and surrounding roads and the displaced people pay much money in the winter after heavy rains sweep their tents and damage their furniture, in addition to their suffering in the case of floods, as they have to stay in the open for long time until they get their tents repaired or buy new ones, before the eyes of the humanitarian organizations operating in the Syrian North, and the Camp Affairs Department of the Salvation Government.

“Al-Gharbaa” Camp which was established in 2017, and inhabited by some 200 families displaced due to the war from their houses in Hama and Idlib countryside, and it is one of tens of camps whose suffering repeats every year where the winter’s floods sweep the tents of its habitants, which force them to leave them and stay in the open seeking for a safe haven, in 2018, “Al-Gharbaa” Camp came under heavy rains which caused floods prevailed most of the camps of the Syrian North, and resulted in a humanitarian crisis that did not attract the attention of humanitarian organizations at that time, in which the camp’s tents and soil were drifted twice during that year, the inhabitants of the camp also fear of the repetition of floods as winter approaches, amid demands by the inhabitants to get the camp prepared in order to avoid a new tragedy this year, without any responses so far, because of the loss of control and the attempts to fulfill priority needs as well as the increase of displaced people’s numbers after the influx of new hundreds of thousands of people after the Syrian opposition lost tens of areas of cities, towns, villages and farms, and with the population density and huge number of displaced people, the percentage of people who live in camps reached about 25% of the total population in the areas beyond the Syrian regime’s control in the Syrian North, winter is approaching and it carries more difficulties, amid the deteriorating situation of the camp in all aspects, from the lack of support, the shortage of relief assistance, the lack of food and potable water, to the acute shortage of services represented by covering the soil, replacing tents and providing them with waterproof covers and preparing the sanitation.

In another camp in “Qah” town, there are more than 500 displaced families suffering from a tragic situation in the shadow of full interruption of relief and medical assistance and all of the basic necessities of life, and their number is estimated at nearly 2500 persons, in which all of those who claim humanity abandoned them and the organizations have had enough with recording the statistics, without lending a helping hand to them and providing what they need, the town of Qah is located in the northern countryside of Idlib, near the Syrian – Turkish border, in which a number of camps that accommodate refugees and people displaced from several Syrian provinces, are exist, and for years, the camps in this town have been known for their poor living situation, the deteriorating services and the lack of support of humanitarian organizations, and the number of displaced people increased largely after the recent military operations which resulted in the displacement of more than 700000 people towards safer border areas, most of the camp’s inhabitant are of the locals and residents of the northern countryside of Hama and the southern countryside of Idlib, who headed to Qah area having no place to take refuge in, where the displaced people set up primitive tents of available material they had such as agricultural pavilions and old tents, and some families are still staying under olive trees and in the open waiting for the arrival of humanitarian organizations that have been turning a blind eye to them after being in Qah town for more than 3 months, without being able to buy a tent that costs nearly 200 USD, also the prices of foodstuffs and supplies increases as winter approaches as well as the increasing exchange rate of the SYL against the USD, the displaced people in Qah town also suffer from several difficulties such as getting potable water and electricity, the poor services in the place where they are present, the rugged roads, the poorly prepared ground, the lack of sanitation, the spread of harmful insects and many other difficulties they face in the place they are present at the outskirts of the town, even the families who set up their tents among the trees, are threatened to evacuate these places as the time of olive harvest approaches, in addition to the abovementioned difficulties that the displaced people face in winter.

The situation in tens of camps is similar to that one in “Al-Gharbaa” Camp and the “camps of Qah”, but there is no point in knocking the doors of organizations, associations or the “opposition” governments that are busy imposing taxes over the residents, there are no responders for the refugees and displaced people’s cries for providing the minimum needs that ensure that they will be in tents protect them from the rain without being forced to be homeless in the incoming winter, and with reference to the living aspect, these camps lack the minimum necessities of life and are not supported by humanitarian organizations, except only one organization that sporadically delivers baskets of food, in addition to the lack of a health center near the camp, and the families suffer from the crisis of shortage of potable water and the lack of good sanitation in addition that there is no roads reach to the camp or out of it, thus, the camp suffer deterioration in all aspects, and needs hard efforts and relief, service and health support, and along the border strip with Turkey, there are many gatherings of camps that accommodate hundreds of thousands of people like the gatherings of Atma, Deir Hesan, Harem, Kherbet Eljoz, Al-Zouf, Salqin and Darkoush, and all of them have being suffered from tragic situation that increases with the beginning of winter and what it brings of freezing cold and sever floods, in the shadow of the lack of humanitarian assistance almost completely by the humanitarian organizations and the absence of an active role of the relevant parties.