DERIK, Syria (North Press) – Maha Sharmoukh (20 years old), a displaced person from the villages of Abu Rasin (Zarkan) to Nowruz camp in Derik in the far north-eastern part of Syria, did not think of buying a fan that would relieve her and her family of summer heat in the absence of electricity.
Sharmoukh, who fled the Turkish bombardment 6 months ago, complains to North Press that they lack the services in the camp. Water is not available, due to the lack of electricity network, so she is forced to buy ice blocks daily, to drink cold water.
Five or six months, more than 300 families have been complaining about the lack of electricity in the camp. Electricity is available for 700 tents on a regular basis. However, the generator cannot cover more than this number of tents, according to Nadim Omar, the official in charge of the Relations Department in Newroz camp.
“We buy two ice blocks at four thousand Syrian pounds. We are also deprived of all services, and we have no refrigerator,” she added.
The UNHCR is planning to extend the electricity network, which includes installing solar panels sufficient to generate electricity that would cover the camp, but the cost needs to be carefully calculated, according to the camp administration.
Amna Abdulqadir (30 years old), a displaced person from Zarkan, has been taking, for about ten months, her children to a spring of water, near the camp, to wash give them a bath to wash their clothes on a weekly basis.
“The spring is far away, so I can’t bring a large amount of water into my tent,” she tells North Press.
She says that she sometimes gives her four children a bath at five in the morning in the kitchens because they are not allowed to use them, as they are not intended for the newly displaced.
The displaced woman also buys four liters of gasoline at a thousand Syrian pounds to be able to cook. “Every three days we consume 8 liters of gasoline. There are no kitchens designated for us, so we cook in the open,” she says.
The number of tents which are not serviced in Nowruz camp is more than 250, while the rest of the tents are little equipped.
Newroz camp, which was reopened during the Turkish invasion on Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in 2019, includes 1095 families, comprising 5,872 people, and the number of families coming to the camp is increasing on a daily basis, according to the camp administration.
The camp was established in 2014 with the aim of sheltering families fleeing from Sinjar district (Shingal), northern Iraq, after the Islamic State (ISIS) attacks.
Due to the frequent Turkish attacks on the countryside of Tel Tamr town, north of Hasakah, dozens of families have been displaced to the camp amid a lack of humanitarian aid distributed by organizations.
Reporting by Dalal Ali