MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIAN REFUGEES-SNOW Snow storm adds to woes of Syrian refugees

Record ID: 274724

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIAN REFUGEES-SNOW Snow storm adds to woes of Syrian refugees
  • Date: 21st January 2015
  • Summary: BEKAA, LEBANON (RECENT) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SNOW COVERING BEKAA VALLEY VARIOUS OF VALLEYS AND HOUSES COVERED BY SNOW CHILDREN RUNNING AT SNOWED-IN TENTED SETTLEMENT CAMP FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES IN BAR ELIAS TENTS AT TENTED SETTLEMENT CAMP FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES SNOW COVERING TENTED SETTLEMENT CAMP VARIOUS OF WASHING ON LINE WITH SNOW AROUND TENTS
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA49P9N7CCLKP8YJ98SMPHY0CK0
  • Story Text: When a deadly snow storm hit Lebanon last week, Syrians at the Bekaa Valley refugee camp shivered throughout the night as the snow piled up outside their tents.
    Nearly four years into the crisis that has seen millions of Syrians displaced, people at the snowed-in settlement say they would welcome any kind of solution in Syria between warring parties so they can go home.
    At the Bar Elias camp, around 20km from the Syrian border, 60 year old Faisal Al-Haji from the the Aleppo countryside said he just wanted this situation to end so he and his family could return to Syria.
    "Hopefully there will be a solution, no matter where it comes from, and we can return to our country. This is what we want, we don't want anything else. We want it to be solved so we go back to our homes. Do you think our situation here is good? No one can bear it, but we have endured even the death," he said.
    Conditions at the camp have been made harder by the weather. One refugee told Reuters off camera that some people at the camp had no heating, and were resorting to burning shoes and tent materials to keep warm.
    Storm "Zina" ripped through the region last week, killing a refugee child and his father in Lebanon as they were trying to cross the border, the U.N. refugee agency said. Aid agencies warn that 7 million displaced children are at risk from the harsh winter weather in Syria and neighbouring countries.
    Fabrizio Carboni, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon, said the harsh weather has exposed cracks in the system of care for refugees.
    "When you are facing such an unprecedented storm, snow storm, yes there are cracks in the system, there are limits to what we can do and to be honest, what we can do as humanitarians, what a municipality can do, what the government can do, (it is) not good enough for the people who are affected. Children died, and beyond the people who died, also (there were) diseases related to colds," he said.
    Lebanon hosts around 1.5 million Syrians, giving it the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world. The government tightened entry requirements this month, saying it could no longer manage the burden.
    But refugee Abdullah Mohammad said Syrians like himself would leave Lebanon as soon as there is peace in his country.
    "We are for peace, we are for calm in our country.. any hour they announce they stop the military operations and people can live in security, trust me there will be none (of us) left in Lebanon, none," he said.
    Many refugees live in makeshift settlements like the one at Bar Elias, around 20km from the border. Some have basic shelters made from wood and plastic sheets taken from billboards. Others have rigged up satellite dishes and have portable ovens.
    Refugee Dalal al-Haji said that conditions at this particular camp were very difficult.
    "There is no wood, no decent clothes, water runs into the tents. Come and see what is happening to us," she said.
    Syria's civil war, which began when anti-government protests spiralled out of control in 2011, is in its fourth harsh winter.
    Over 3 million Syrians have fled to Turkey Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Aid agencies have criticised Western governments for not doing enough, after a pledge in December by European countries to resettle 100,000 Syrians.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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