Looming humanitarian crisis during winter | People of Daraa suffer from dire humanitarian situation with power outage and fuel shortage

People of Daraa province in southern Syria are experiencing dire humanitarian situation with the lack of job opportunities and the large number of checkpoints which divide it into small cantons controlled by various branches of regime intelligence and “reconciliations” factions.

 

In seasonal jobs, like olive harvest, a civilian’s average income may reach 100,000 SYL, while most of the residents work with daily wages of no more 3,000 SYL. Also, the monthly expenditure of a single family of five members exceeds 250,000 SYL.

 

It is worth noting that many of the people of Daraa province are expatriate outside Syria, while others are refugees in Jordan and other neighbouring countries where they send remittances to their relatives inside Daraa.

 

As winter starts, the humanitarian situation and living conditions deteriorate, especially with the lack of fuel and its unaffordable prices. At a time when the residents rely on oil, gas and logs for heating, the price of logs approximates 250,000 SYL per ton, along with the lack of state-subsidized oil and nature gas which are largely available in duty free stores for multiple prices.

 

Moreover, the province suffers from almost permanent power outage, in the wake of electricity networks’ malfunction and the rationing system imposed throughout Syria.