The camp of Al-Ouroube .. Lack of sanitation and necessities of life .. and catastrophic humanitarian situation in the shadow of the absence of support from organizations

Inhabitants of the makeshift camps which are noticeably spread in several areas in the northern and western countryside of Idlib, and which have been established by people displaced from the “de-escalation” zone that has been under violent aerial and ground bombardment since the escalation started, are still suffering from harsh conditions, after such camps had widely spread as the major gatherings and camps became congested with displaced people and unable to accommodate more people, where these makeshift tents are in miserable situation amid the deteriorating services and acute lack of food, potable water and medical equipment.

According what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored, the tragedy aggravated after the entry of winter, and like the rest of makeshift camps, the camp of Tareeq Al-Ouroube is suffering harsh conditions, and families in it are too poor and lack the minimum necessities of life, after they fled the intensive bombardment.

SOHR also monitored that the camp lacks sanitation as well as being far from any medical, educational or service facilities, in his testimony to the Syrian Observatory, one of those in charge of the Tareeq Al-Ouroube Camp, talked about its situation and the suffering of its inhabitants: he said “the camp of Tareeq Al-Ouroube is located near Maarrat Misrin town in the northern countryside of Idlib, it was established on the 20^th of June 2019, with the help and initiative of displaced people with no participation by any humanitarian organizations, there are 175 families live in it, where all of them have displaced from several areas in the southern countryside of Idlib and both northern and western countryside of Idlib.”

“During the past few days, the camp’s inhabitants faced tough humanitarian situation, where it has been sustained much material damage as a result of the leak of water into all tents in the camp, as well as the muddy nature of the ground it is based on, in which the camp’s inhabitants got out of it and stayed for long hours trying to rebuild their ramshackle tents, where these tents are made of pavilion, blankets and used tents, the camp lack efficient drainage systems, also it is nearly 7 km away from the nearest medical center or hospital, the camp also lacks a school for the children who dropped out of school more than 7 months ago, the camp has not received any support by the humanitarian organizations, except Ihsan Organization that provides limited quantities of potable water that are enough for only few days, with the entry of winter, the people’s sufferings significantly aggravated, where the families became in need for a lot of basic requirements, like getting heating material, changing the tents and rehabilitating the camp’s ground, we calls for constructing roads to the camp, and working on procedures to protect it against the rain and ensure that it would not drown again, like digging canals for drawing water from the camp, raising the tents over the ground, so that these displaced families can stay there” he added.

One of the inhabitants of Tareeq Al-Ouroube Camp and in his testimony to the Syrian Observatory, talked about his living situation in the camp: he said “my name is M. A. from Al-Hwaija village in Sahl Al-Ghab in the western countryside of Hama, I left with my family with the beginning of escalation on the area, towards Maarrat Misrin area in the northern countryside of Idlib, where we established the camp with individual efforts with other displaced people, and poor potentials, we settled in it after we had fled the intensive bombardment that targeted the area, and after me with my family had moved to several areas after the start of escalation, from Jabal Shashaboo area, to the vicinity of the Turkish post in Shir Mghar area, then here, after the pace of bombardment significantly stepped up, I bought a tent and set it up, then I managed to bring some furniture from my house in our village during the relative calm after a truce had been announced about, in this camp, there is no even minimum essentials of life, where we suffer from extreme poverty, lack of employment opportunities and astronomical rise in prices of all goods, in addition to the increased suffering after the entry of winter, where the camp drowned and many tents were damaged, we have not notice the coming of any organization to know about our sufferings, so we appeal to all relevant parties to visit the camp, adopt it and provide necessary aid like potable water, heating material, blankets and furniture, in addition to our urgent need to the presence of a medical post near the camp, as there is neither imminent solution nor a return to our areas looming on the horizon.”

Lens of SOHR: displaced people suffer from tragic situation in “Al-Ouroube” Camp near Maarrat Misrin city in Idlib countryside