Nabolandet Tyrkiet har allerede taget imod 141.000 flygtninge fra volden i Syrien og mange flere venter på at komme over den nu lukkede grænse – titusinder af fordrevne lever i trøstesløse teltlejre, mens frosten tager til – ny appel fra FN om hjælp.
QAH, 19 December 2012 (IRIN): Ten year old Ragad uses crutches (krykker) to gingerly make her way up a muddy hillside. On her right foot, she wears a bright blue rubber shoe. The other foot is missing, amputated below the knee.
She was injured when a bomb destroyed her family home in Hass, 86 km southwest of Syria’s largest city, Aleppo. Many parts of Aleppo are now in ruins after nearly six months of urban warfare; and most of the 25.000 inhabitants of Hass have fled.
Ragad and her family live in a tent on a mud-covered slope. They are among 4.000 people marooned (efterladt) in more than 500 tents at Qah camp for displaced people close to the Turkish border, set up three months ago.
More families arrive every day, many from Hass.
2,5 million displaced inside Syria
Another 10.000 people live nearby in the only other known camp in the north, called Atma. Across the country, at least 2,5 million people are displaced (fordrevet) within Syria, according to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
Cold and afraid, many here say they want desperately to leave Syria’s nearly two-year conflict behind and cross into Turkey. But for the moment, their northern neighbour has refused to accept them, citing overcrowding.
Fourteen Turkish camps, hosting 141.000 people, are already well over capacity, with thousands of people sleeping in communal tents or in neighbouring villages for lack of space.
Those waiting at the border say Turkey’s earlier open-door policy is no longer in effect. Now, only the injured and those with passports may cross into Turkey. The others must wait in Syria until new refugee camps are built.
Six camps are currently under construction; three of them – with a combined capacity of 15.000 people – are set to be ready by the New Year.
But for people who have had homes destroyed, family members killed and villages abandoned, it is a race against time, weather and war.
In search of safety
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97086/SYRIA-IDPs-brace-for-winter-in-rebel-controlled-camps
Se også
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43806&Cr=syria&Cr1=#.UNH8IWV1T4s
