HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Sometimes she dampens a piece of cloth with water and puts it on her head; other times she spill water in front of her tent’s door as temperatures outside exceeds 45 °C. Just like other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Zahraa al-Jassem, 75, suffers from unspeakably harsh conditions in the blazing summer.
The IDPs in Sere Kaniye camp, east of Hasakah, are spending their summer with no means of cooling such as fans or air conditioners, amid lack of water in the tanks scattered in the camp.
The camp houses 2.409 displaced families from the Sere kaniye region, including 7.017 individuals. The IDPs are scattered among 2.793 tents, according to the camp’s management.
“There is lack of support for the camp, as no fans or air conditioners have been provided to the IDPs so far,” said Aziza Khanafer, the co-chair of the camp.
Their suffering is exacerbated by the searing temperatures, and according to Syria’s Meteorology Department, this summer will be 3 degrees Celsius higher than the average summer in Syria.
The department warned of getting exposed to the sun, especially when it is at its peak.
Khanafer agreed with the IDPs that the amount of water provided by relief organizations is not enough for them. She said that the camp’s management keeps asking the organizations for help but “all in vain.”
Living in the camp with her elderly husband and daughter with special needs, Zahraa al-Jassem, an IDP from the town of Abu Rasin in north of Hasakah has no choice but to hold out. “Out of misery, one day I cry and one day I laugh,” she said.
The woman does not stop comparing her current situation with how it was before the displacement. She owned a house full of fans and made of mud, and this type of homes reduces temperatures during the summer, “but here you see my condition, I have nothing.”
She complained about the lack of food aid amid miserable living conditions, especially because they, like other IDPs, lost everything they owned after their displacement.
The closure of al-Ya’rubiyah (Tel Kocher) border-crossing is still ongoing, preventing humanitarian aid entering the areas of northeast Syria, which are held by the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the SDF defeated ISIS militarily there.
Appeals by the AANES officials and IDPs to the UN are taking place regularly, asking it to keep providing the area with the needed aid, which will be easy to deliver if al-Ya’rubiyah crossing is reopened.
The camps in northeastern Syria depended primarily on the aid received through al-Ya’rubiyah crossing, which was lifeblood for the region.
But closing it has worsened the living conditions for those affected by the war, according to a previous statement by Sheikhmous Ahmad, head of the IDPs and Refugees Office of the AANES.
The IDPs are asking the camp’s management and relief organizations to provide them with means of cooling, cold water and summer clothes.
When asked about her conditions in the camp, Laila Aleiwi, 52, an IDP from a village in Abu Rasin countryside, preferred to answer after entering her tent because of the scalding heat.
Aleiwi described the situation as “tragic; there is no water or enough aid, let alone the heat turns our tents into an ember.”
“In the past, despite the low quality of the aid, we were satisfied with it, but its quantity has been reduced in recent months, and we have not received detergents for three months,” she added.
Some of them resort to buying ice cubes to cool drinking water, while others cannot afford that and have no choice but to drink it hot.
According to the IDPs, they remain without water every day from afternoon until the next day, as tanks run out of water, so they have no choice but to wait relief organizations to fill it again.
The situation of Hussein al-Salim, 35, an IDP from a village in the countryside of Tel Tamr in north of Hasakah, is not different from the rest.
The man is unable to buy a fan for his family, which consists of his wife and six children, in light of his inability to find a job opportunity to secure his family’s livelihood.
According to al-Salim, his wife resorted to dampening a piece of cloth with water and placing it on their children’s bodies to reduce the heat. “We only have this method,” he said.