RUSSIA: HUNDREDS OF CHECHNYA REFUGEES ARE TRYING TO MAKE LIVES FOR THEMSELVES IN CRAMPED MAKESHIFT TENT TOWNS

Record ID: 274743

  • Title: RUSSIA: HUNDREDS OF CHECHNYA REFUGEES ARE TRYING TO MAKE LIVES FOR THEMSELVES IN CRAMPED MAKESHIFT TENT TOWNS
  • Date: 11th November 1999
  • Summary: KARABULAK, INGUSHETIA, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 11, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV TENTS AT THE KARABULAK REFUGEE CAMP 0.05 2. SV/SLV MAN INSIDE TENT MAKING A WOODEN FLOOR (2 SHOTS) 0.13 3. SLV ,AM CARRYING BUCKETS OF WATER 0.22 4. SLV MAN CHOPPING WOOD OUTSIDE 0.27 5. SLV WOMAN WALKING IN CAMP 0.36 6. SLV/MCU WOMAN AND CHILD
  • Embargoed: 26th November 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARABULAK CAMP, INGUSHETIA, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA7ROVUGAMUVY6F2LEWWUTYUM4C
  • Story Text: Almost seven weeks into Russia's bombing campaign in
    Chechnya, hundreds of refugees are trying to make lives for
    themselves in cramped makeshift tent towns.

    But heavy snowfalls and freezing temperatures have made
    life in the Karabulak camp even more difficult.

    About 200,000 Chechen refugees have fled their homes
    in the breakaway region, arriving in Ingushetia with what
    possessions they could carry and little else.

    Thousands are now trying to make lives for themselves in
    cramped tent camps, braving freezing temperatures, snow and
    illness.

    The Karabulak camp, near the Chechen-Ingush border, is like
    many other camps which have been hastily set up in Ingushetia,
    an impoverished province bordering Chechnya.

    All it can offer to thousands of refugees who have arrived
    at Karabulak over the past two weeks, are makeshift tents
    with no flooring and hardly any heating.

    Children make up the majority of the Karabulak camp and it
    is them who are most often the first to fall prey to illnesses
    spreading in the camps.

    "Most of the children cough, they are sick," said Marina
    Gazeyeva, the head of the school, who used to teach in Grozny.

    The only clothing many of them have is what they had on
    when they fled their homes several weeks ago -- t-shirts and
    slippers.

    With winter well on it's way, heavy snowfalls and sub-zero
    temperatures, few venture out of their tents.

    About half of the 1,000 school-aged children in the camp
    go to the school, made up of several tents next to each other.

    The teachers work as volunteers in the tent schools, where
    a wood-fuelled fire provides little heat.A thick layer of
    snow covers the outside of the tents.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register