Iraqi relief officials say more camps needed as people flee Mosul

Record ID: 645474

  • Title: Iraqi relief officials say more camps needed as people flee Mosul
  • Date: 18th April 2017
  • Summary: HAMMAM AL-ALIL, SOUTH MOSUL, IRAQ (APRIL 18, 2017) (REUTERS) DISPLACED PEOPLE AT CAMP / ROWS OF TENTS VARIOUS OF ROWS OF TENTS AT CAMP PEOPLE INSIDE THE CAMP / BUS CARRYING MORE DISPLACED PEOPLE DRIVING INTO CAMP BUS CARRYING DISPLACED PEOPLE DRIVING IN PEOPLE STANDING INSIDE CAMP CROWD OF NEWLY-ARRIVED DISPLACED PEOPLE MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN NEAR BUS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE FOR THE RELIEF AND EVACUATION OF DISPLACED PEOPLE, IRAQI ARMY BRIGADIER GENERAL JABBAR HASSOUNA SAYING: "The number of displaced people had reached more than 15 thousand and then started to come down to 10, 8.7 thousand. (It is) going up and down in accordance with the military operation and advancement made by our troops and the opening of safe passages for them." GROUP OF CHILDREN AT CAMP YARD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE FOR THE RELIEF AND EVACUATION OF DISPLACED PEOPLE, ARMY BRIGADIER GENERAL JABBAR HASSONA SAYING: "Food is available and medical services are being offered by the organisations, but what we really need is more camps. We call for a quick opening of the new camps currently under construction in Salamiya, Bartella and other areas to accommodate more people." GROUP OF DISPLACED PEOPLE WAITING TO RECEIVE AID PEOPLE INSIDE CAMP / EMPTY BUS LEAVING PEOPLE WALKING IN THE CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED FROM MOSUL, NASSIER YASSIN AHMED SAYING: "I have not received a heater for a month now and I do not have gas oil. I have to buy kerosene, but I do not have money. I left everything behind and fled even with no shoes on my feet and no clothes. How can I live, eat and buy clothes when I do not have money?" PEOPLE NEAR TENTS IN THE CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED FROM MOSUL, ISSAM ABO MOHAMMED, SAYING: "I have been sleeping on a mat for 17 days and my back is hurting me now. I am 54-years old and I am ill. My son was hit and killed in Wadi al-Hajar while we were escaping and I buried his body in the street. If the senior officials do not help me, my family will die." PEOPLE INSIDE THE CAMP TENTS TENTS SEEN THROUGH FENCE
  • Embargoed: 2nd May 2017 16:33
  • Keywords: Mosul Iraq refugees displaced people
  • Location: HAMMAM AL-ALIL, SOUTH MOSUL, IRAQ
  • City: HAMMAM AL-ALIL, SOUTH MOSUL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016CXFV47
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: An Iraqi official from the Joint Committee for the relief and evacuation of displaced people said on Tuesday (April 18) more camps were needed to accommodate people fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul.
    The United Nations warned on Tuesday that the battle to dislodge Islamic State from the Old City of Mosul, where hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are trapped, could turn into the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the war against the militants.
    The U.N. and Iraqi authorities have built more camps but struggle to accommodate new arrivals with two families sometimes having to share one tent.
    Some of the displaced inside the camp complained of shortages of food and essential non-food items including mattresses, cooking and heating oil.
    Iraqi Army Brigadier General Jabbar Hassouna said the numbers of displaced increased and decreased in line with the military operation.
    "(It is) going up and down in accordance with the military operation and advancement made by our troops and the opening of safe passages for them," he said.
    Flooding had made all bridges across the Tigris in and out of western Mosul impassable, with no aid convoy able to reach Hammam al-Alil camp since the bridges' closure on Friday (April 14). It also cut off escape routes for people fleeing the Islamic State-held part of the Iraqi city. The bridges were reopened on Tuesday enabling fleeing Mosul residents to travel to the camp, with aid delivery also expected to resume.
    About 400,000 civilians, or a quarter of Mosul's pre-war population, are trapped in the Old City, according to U.N. estimates.
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