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| In this Friday, Sept. 7, 2012, photo, Syrian Fatimah Abdullah, 29, who fled her home in Marea 15 days ago, due to Syrian government shelling, sits next to her 4 days old twin Ahmad and Bayan, who were born in a Turkish hospital and brought back with her to the border where they take refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz. The days are still hot across the fertile plains of northern Syria, but at night there is a hint of a chill an ominous harbinger of winter's approach and the deepening of the humanitarian crisis gripping a country wracked by civil war. |
TEL RIFAAT, Syria (AP) -- The days are still warm across the fertile plains of northern Syria around Aleppo, but night brings a chill - an ominous harbinger of winter's approach and the deepening of the already severe humanitarian crisis gripping a country wracked by civil war.
Warm
temperatures and plentiful food have cushioned the blow somewhat for
hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced from their homes or living in
refugee camps across the border. But the arrival of near-freezing
temperatures could mean greater suffering and even deaths from exposure,
as international aid agencies scramble to cope.
Among
the first things to go will be the practice of sleeping outside to
avoid the artillery and airstrikes that rain down late night death on
homes.
"Most people sleep in the fields at
night, out of fear of the bombardments of the towns," said Abu Mohammed,
who has taken to sleeping in the olive orchards outside Tel Rifaat, a
rebel-controlled town north of Aleppo. "In the winter the suffering will
only increase."
Like many people in Syria, he
asked that his real name not be used for fear of retribution should the
government retake his town.
At a news
conference earlier this month, actress Angelina Jolie, a special envoy
for the U.N. Refugee Agency, reported that many of the refugees living
in camps along the Turkish border were worried about the approach of
cold weather.
"It is a very large concern for
all of us, and I hope we can all work together to make sure that ...
nobody freezes to death in this very frightening time," she said.
As
the second winter approaches in an 18-month-old conflict that has
claimed more than 20,000 lives, fighting has spread to many more parts
of the country and people's resources are dangerously low.
Abu Mustafa, Mohammed's brother, said the family survived last winter on savings, but now the financial situation is much worse.
"Last
winter, people had money, but now people have nothing because there is
no work," he said. "Most of the work was in Aleppo and most went there
for jobs, but now they can't."
An agricultural
breadbasket, northern Syria has food, but not everyone can afford it.
In many cases, families are forced to flee to refugee camps on the
border not only for fear of fighting but because they have run out of
money for food.
The length of the conflict is
also wearing people down, leaving them even more vulnerable, said
Sybella Wilkes of the U.N. Refugee Agency.
"The
more people are displaced, the longer they are living in difficult
situations of hardship, the more stretched their coping skills are," she
said.
The U.N. agency is planning a new
international appeal to help the refugees on the borders, as well as
those still inside the country, including winterizing tents and
distributing blankets and warm clothing.
"Already
... the displaced are suffering from cold in the evening - this is a
real concern," Wilkes said. She said the number of registered refugees
has far exceeded earlier estimates, growing more than 12-fold from about
20,000 in June to 250,000 today.
Another 1.5
million Syrians are displaced inside the country, while an additional 1
million are in urgent need of assistance because they have run out of
money for food and other essentials, according to U.N. Deputy
Secretary-General Jan Eliassan. A $180 million emergency response plan
is only half-funded, he added.
Temperatures
during the winter months can drop below freezing in northern Syria, and
it often rains heavily. Most houses are designed to deal with the
scorching summers, but are not well insulated against the cold.
Neighboring
Turkey has already taken in 80,000 refugees in overflowing camps and
for weeks had to temporarily close its borders to new refugees.
At
the Bab al-Salameh border crossing, more than 5,000 Syrians are camped
out in hangars once used by customs officials to inspect trucks -
structures without walls, running water or electricity.
"When
winter comes, how will I keep them warm?" asked Fatima Abdallah,
gesturing worriedly at her tiny newborn twins as she sat on the concrete
floor. Turkey has started admitting a few hundred Syrians at a time,
but it's unclear if everyone will be housed in the camps by the time the
cold weather sets in.
While food supplies
seem to be holding steady, the biggest challenge will be staying warm
and preparing food. The parts of the country outside government control
have to rely on smuggled supplies of gasoline and heating oil, which
have already tripled in price.
Smugglers drive
to government-controlled areas, usually to the east, load up their cars
with butane tanks and jerry cans of gasoline and drive them back to the
rebel-controlled areas.
"There are already
shortages of kerosene used to heat homes and there is also a shortage of
fuel and cooking gas. And when winter hits, the prices will go up for
everything," said Marixie Mercado of UNICEF, noting that the displaced
tend to live in public buildings like schools or stadiums that cannot
easily be heated.
Many also have taken refuge
in construction sites or half-built houses without windows, which will
offer little protection against the country's wet winters.
UNICEF
is stockpiling supplies, including baby blankets and thermal underwear
for children, as well as stoves to heat schools - assuming the fuel is
available.
"People are cutting down trees to
get wood," said Abu Mustafa, relying on wood-burning stoves to cook as
gas supplies have run out. "We cut off a bunch of dead branches in our
orchards and collected them, but the next time we went to our fields to
pick them up, someone had stolen them. People are getting desperate."
International
agencies are working with local partners, particularly the Syrian Red
Crescent to distribute food and supplies around the country, said Ben
Parker of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs.
The Red Crescent can cross the lines
of the conflict, but even then, their efforts have been stymied by the
proliferating checkpoints and rising violence.
"It will be a bitter winter," Parker warned.
