WORLD News 'Ribut Salji membawa kesengsaraan yang banyak kepada pelarian Syria' . . .
By think IN PICTURE's | Wednesday
January 9, 2013
TINJAUAN 1WC'sChannel 2013:
ZAATARI, Jordan (AP) - Satu ribut musim sejuk membesarkan kesengsaraan untuk
puluhan ribu Aram (orang syria) melarikan diri perang saudara negara itu,
beralih kem pelarian ke paya berlumpur di mana angin lolongan merobohkan khemah
dan terdedah penduduk pelarian untuk suhu beku.
Sesetengah pelarian kecewa pada
kem di Zaatari, di mana kira-kira 50,000 terlindung, menyerang pekerja bantuan
dengan kayu dan batu selepas khemah runtuh angin 35 mph (60 kph), kata Ghazi Sarhan, jurucakap
untuk kebajikan Jordan yang membantu menjalankan kem. Polis berkata 7 pekerja Jordan
cedera.
Selepas 3 hari hujan, air berlumpur khemah
pelarian perumahan termasuk melanda wanita hamil dan bayi. Keadaan di kem
Zaatari "lebih teruk daripada yang tinggal di Syria," kata Fadi
Suleiman pelarian 30-thn.
Kebanyakan penduduk Zaatari adalah kanak-kanak di bawah umur
18 tahun dan wanita. Mereka adalah beberapa Aram (bukan arab) lebih daripada
280,000 yang melarikan diri ke Jordan sejak pemberontakan terhadap Presiden
Bashar Assad tercetus Mac 2011. Sebagai pertempuran telah meningkat dalam
beberapa minggu kebelakangan ini, bilangan pelarian telah meningkat.
Kira-kira setengah juta Syria
telah melarikan diri ke negara-negara jiran termasuk Turki dan Lebanon untuk
melarikan diri dari perang saudara yang telah membunuh kira-kira 60,000 orang
dalam hampir 2 tahun berjuang. Cuaca basah dan dingin di seluruh Timur Tengah
telah membuat keadaan sengsara untuk pelarian di negara-negara sepertinya -
walaupun banjir 2 kem di Lembah Bekaa Lubnan selepas sungai melimpah ketebingnya.
Beberapa kolam besar air naik -
termasuk satu hampir saiz padang bola sepak dan kira-kira 4 inci dalam - telah
merebak di kem Zaatari. Kanak-kanak yang hanya memakai selipar plastik walaupun
air dingin. Seorang perempuan tua memakai beg plastik di kakinya kerana dia
berjalan untuk mengambilkan makanan.
"Zaatari tenggelam,"
kata seorang pelarian yang memberikan namanya sebagai Abu Bilal dari bandar
selatan Syria Dara'a, merentasi sempadan. Bapa 21-thn 2 kanak-kanak kecil berkata khemah beliau
telah dibanjiri selama beberapa hari, dan apabila dia merayu untuk mendapatkan
bantuan, beliau telah berpaling oleh kedua-dua agensi pelarian Pertubuhan
Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) dan Pertubuhan Amal Hashimiah Jordan, yang
mentadbir kem.
Keluarganya 5 nyawa dalam
khemah kain jiran sempit, yang sudah menempatkan 8 orang. "Kami terdesak.
Kami memerlukan penyelesaian pantas," kata Abu Bilal, yang memakai
selendang berkotak warna merah putih di atas kepalanya untuk memberikan kehangatan.
"Reaksi Rakyat boleh keluar dari tangan, terutamanya jika mereka melihat
anak-anak mereka jatuh sakit atau bahkan mati. Mereka boleh melakukan sesuatu
bahawa tiada siapa yang akan dapat mengawal atau menyalahkan mereka kerananya."
Seperti kebanyakan pelarian
yang ditemuramah dalam kem, Abu Bilal diminta untuk dikenal pasti oleh nama
samaran beliau kerana dia takut tindakan terhadap saudara-mara yang masih
tinggal di Syria. Suleiman mengadu bahawa hidup di kem adalah "satu
kesengsaraan selepas lain sebagai masyarakat antarabangsa duduk terbiar,
melakukan apa-apa untuk membantu kita Assad zalim." Beliau bimbang bahawa
ribut musim sejuk adalah cukup serius untuk "membunuh kanak-kanak dan
orang-orang tua."
Seorang wanita yang memberikan
nama beliau sebagai Um Ahmed dan juga khemah juga telah dibanjiri berkata anak
perempuannya berusia 9 bulan meninggal DUNIA di Zaatari baru-baru ini. Beliau
menyalahkan sejuk, berkata gadis itu mengalami cirit-birit teruk dan
muntah-muntah. Pegawai kem, bagaimanapun, telah tidak dikaitkan dengan mana-mana
kematian sejuk.
Seorang pelarian 37-thn, yang
memberikan namanya sebagai Abu Samir, berkata dia mengadu kepada pihak kem
tentang keadaan dan bertanya jika mereka di khemah-khemah yang rapuh boleh
menerima salah satu daripada 2,500 treler yang didermakan oleh Arab Saudi -
tetapi pegawai-pegawai bersahaja menggali lubang saliran yang melakukan sedikit
untuk menarik diri air dan lain-lain khemah.
Satu lagi yang memanggil
dirinya Abu Abdullah mengadu tentang panjang masa yang diperlukan untuk
memenuhi walaupun keperluan yang paling mudah dan pahit berjenaka bahawa suatu
permintaan bagi lampin untuk 2 anak muda itu memerlukan tandatangan dari
Setiausaha Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) Ban Ki-moon.
Ali Bibi, seorang pegawai
perhubungan dengan agensi pelarian Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) di
Jordan, berkata kumpulan itu dalam proses memuktamadkan rancangan untuk
mengedarkan treler Arab Saudi. Tetapi beliau menambah bahawa sokongan kewangan
masyarakat antarabangsa untuk Syria - kedua-dua mereka yang disesarkan dalaman
dan mereka yang berlindung di negara-negara jiran - adalah "kurang
daripada sederhana" dalam tindak balas kepada rayuan baru-baru ini.
Bulan lepas, PBB berkata ia
memerlukan $ 1 bilion kepada membantu orang Syria di rantau ini, manakala $ 500
juta diperlukan untuk membantu pelarian di Jordan. UNHCR mengatakan 597.240
pelarian telah didaftarkan atau sedang menunggu pendaftaran dengan agensi di
Turki, Lubnan, Jordan, Iraq dan Mesir. Sesetengah negara mempunyai lebih tinggi
anggaran, mencatatkan ramai telah menemui penginapan tanpa mendaftar.
"Kami telah meminta
masyarakat antarabangsa untuk meningkatkan dan menyokong pelarian Syria dengan
infrastruktur yang lebih baik, seperti treler dan unit pasang siap, untuk
berurusan dengan berunsur-unsur musim sejuk yang teruk," kata Bibi.
Lewat Selasa, TV negeri Jordan
melaporkan bahawa selepas seorang pegawai serantau melawat kem. 70 keluarga telah
dipindahkan dari khemah ke lokasi yang berbeza. Program Makanan DUNIA berkata
ia dapat membantu 1 juta orang yang kelaparan makanan di dalam Syria.
Jurucakap WFP Elisabeth Byrs
berkata agensi itu merancang untuk menyediakan bantuan kepada 1.5 juta daripada
2.5 juta yang orang Aram (orang syria) Bulan Sabit Merah Arab Syria mengatakan
pelarian. Tetapi kekurangan keselamatan dan ketidakupayaan agensi untuk
menggunakan pelabuhan Tartus Syria untuk penghantaran bermakna bahawa
sebilangan besar orang di beberapa kawasan paling teruk negara itu tidak akan
mendapat bantuan, katanya.
"Rakan kongsi utama kami,
Bulan Sabit Merah, sememangnya telah terlalu padat dan tidak mempunyai kapasiti
yang lebih untuk terus berkembang," Byrs berkata. Cuaca ribut juga
ditambah kepada nasib pelarian Syria di Lubnan, di mana telah ada hujan lebat
dan banjir di seluruh negara. Sekolah swasta dan awam di Lubnan telah ditutup
Selasa dan Rabu, apabila ribut itu dijangka berada di kemuncaknya.
2 perkhemahan pelarian Syria di
timur Lembah Bekaa di Lubnan telah direndam dalam air selepas Sungai Litani dibanjiri.
Puluhan pelarian Syria meninggalkan mencari perlindungan alternatif
bersama-sama dengan barang-barang mereka direndam dan berlumpur.
Hiam al-Hussein, 23-thn dari
daerah perang melanda Syria Homs ‘Baba Amr, adalah antara kumpulan pelarian
yang berlindung di garaj terbuka berhampiran perkhemahan banjir al-Faour.
"Kami telah membawa bersama-sama dengan kami beberapa tilam, beberapa
permaidani. Semuanya pergi sekarang," katanya, memakai sweater, seluar
pajama dan selendang merah jambu.
"Tuhan membantu wanita dan
kanak-kanak. Sungai banjir malam tadi dan tiba-tiba segala-galanya di
sekeliling kita telah dihanyutkan dan berenang di dalam air," kata
Abdullah Taleb, pelarian dari bandar utara Aleppo yang tiba di Lubnan 3 bulan
lalu dengan isterinya dan 2 orang anak. "Ia adalah satu mimpi ngeri kita
hidup - mimpi ngeri."
Di bandar timur Lubnan Marj
berhampiran sempadan Syria, pelarian diperkukuh dibanjiri khemah, dan beberapa
telah ditiup angin dan hujan. Penyelesaian kecil kira-kira 40 khemah yang
disumbangkan oleh amal Saudi dan menubuhkan kerjasama dengan rumah UNHCR
kebanyakannya wanita dan kanak-kanak.
"Kamu beritahu saya,
adakah ini kehidupan?" menangis seorang wanita pertengahan umur yang
memberikan namanya sebagai Ghalia. Dia melarikan diri dengan anak ke Lubnan
beliau selepas suaminya meninggal DUNIA dalam serangan kejiranan Damsyik Qaboun
tahun lepas.
"Kami telah dihalau keluar
dari Syria oleh peperangan dan kita tidak mampu harga sewa di Lubnan. Kami
tidak mempunyai apa-apa tetapi pakaian kita dibawa dengan kami ke khemah ini,
dan kini melihat kami!" katanya sebagai air meresap ke dalam khemah
beliau.
Imad al-Shummari, ketua
perbandaran al-Marj, berkata pihak berkuasa telah bekerja dengan pelarian untuk
mengukuhkan khemah mereka dan menyediakan alternatif, perlindungan serta
mengedarkan pemanas dan selimut tambahan dan lain-lain keperluan.
"Kami telah banjir dalam
banyak bidang," katanya. Lebanon mempunyai kira-kira 175,000 pelarian
Syria, menurut angka PBB, walaupun kerajaan Lubnan menganggarkan bilangan pada
200,000. Yang berada di sekolah-sekolah dan pangsapuri, tetapi beberapa yang
tinggal di khemah-khemah mereka bernada berhampiran sempadan Syria.
Cuaca sejuk dan hujan juga
telah menyebabkan masalah di kem di Turki, dan tragedi melanda didalam satu
laman. Kebakaran merebak melalui beberapa khemah di kem pelarian Shah Suleyman,
membunuh dua kanak-kanak dan mencederakan empat orang lain, menurut Agensi-run
negeri Anadolu. Seorang kanak-kanak berusia 5-tahun meninggal DUNIA di tempat
kejadian, manakala berusia 15 tahun meninggal DUNIA kecederaan lewat beliau ke
hospital.
Api nampaknya telah disebabkan
oleh penggunaan haram pelarian elektrik yang disediakan untuk radiator untuk
khemah, kata Timbalan Perdana Menteri Besir Atalay. Pihak Berkuasa Pengurusan
Bencana dan Kecemasan Turki, yang menyelia kem-kem pelarian, berkata pihak
berkuasa telah menyediakan untuk keadaan musim sejuk sejak Ogos. Seorang pegawai
dari unit dalam menjaga persediaan berkata semua pelarian telah diberikan but
musim sejuk, pakaian panas, kot dan selimut pada bulan November.
Hampir semua khemah sama ada
dirombak untuk cuaca sejuk atau digantikan dengan orang-orang yang mampu untuk
menghadapi keadaan musim sejuk, katanya. Semua khemah mempunyai pemanas,
mengikut kepada pegawai yang bercakap dengan syarat tidak mahu namanya
disiarkan kerana peraturan kerajaan.
Walaupun itu, Mohammed al-Abed,
Syria 30-thn di kem Yayladagi Turki, berkata berada dalam keadaan "sejuk,
basah dan sengsara." Suhu berhampiran dengan pembekuan, katanya, sambil
menambah bahawa khemah dilengkapi dengan pemanas tetapi bahawa bilik mandi dan
tandas kira-kira 300-500 meters (meter) jauhnya.
"Selalunya ada berbaris
panjang orang, termasuk kanak-kanak pembekuan, menunggu dalam kesejukan untuk
menggunakan bilik mandi," katanya. "Tidak ada air panas. Orang
semakin sakit, terutamanya kanak-kanak. Terdapat banyak batuk, jangkitan dan
orang-orang dengan selesema," katanya.
"Ia adalah satu keadaan
yang sengsara, tetapi saya malu untuk mengadu kerana keadaan kita lebih baik
daripada saudara-saudara kita yang terperangkap di Syria," katanya,
memetik syarat di kem Atmeh pada sebelah sempadan Syria.
"Sekurang-kurangnya kita
lebih bersedia dengan beberapa pemanas dan selimut. Mereka mempunyai apa-apa,
pemanasan tidak, tiada kuasa elektrik. Tiada apa-apa pun."
to Syrian refugees' . . .
1WC'sChannel REVIEW 2013:
ZAATARI, Jordan (AP) - A winter storm is magnifying the misery for tens of
thousands of Syrians fleeing the country's civil war, turning a refugee camp
into a muddy swamp where howling winds tore down tents and exposed the
displaced residents to freezing temperatures.
Some frustrated refugees at a
camp in Zaatari, where about 50,000 are sheltered, attacked aid workers with
sticks and stones after the tents collapsed in 35 mph (60 kph) winds, said
Ghazi Sarhan, spokesman for the Jordanian charity that helps run the camp.
Police said seven Jordanian workers were injured.
After three days of rain, muddy
water engulfed tents housing refugees including pregnant women and infants.
Those who didn't move out used buckets to bail out the water; others built
walls of mud to try to stay dry.
Conditions in the Zaatari camp
were "worse than living in Syria," said Fadi Suleiman, a 30-year-old
refugee. Most of Zaatari's residents are children under age 18 and women. They
are some of the more than 280,000 Syrians who fled to Jordan since the uprising
against President Bashar Assad broke out in March 2011. As the fighting has
increased in recent weeks, the number of displaced has risen.
About a half-million Syrians
have fled to neighboring countries including Turkey and Lebanon to escape the
civil war that has killed an estimated 60,000 people in nearly two years of
fighting. Wet and wintry weather across the Middle East has made conditions
miserable for refugees in those countries as well - even flooding two camps in
Lebanon's Bekaa Valley after a river overflowed its banks.
Several large pools of standing
water - including one nearly the size of a football field and about 4 inches
deep - have spread in the Zaatari camp. Children clad only in plastic sandals
waded in despite the frigid water. An old woman wore plastic bags on her feet
as she walked to pick up some food.
"Zaatari is sinking,"
said a refugee who gave his name as Abu Bilal from the southern Syrian town of
Dara'a, across the border. The 21-year-old father of two toddlers said his tent
has been flooded for days, and when he appealed for help, he was turned away by
both the U.N. refugee agency and the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization,
which administer the camp.
His family of five lives in a
neighbor's cramped cloth tent, which already houses eight people. "We're
desperate. We need a solution fast," said Abu Bilal, who wore a red and
white checkered scarf on his head for warmth. "People's reactions may get
out of hand, especially if they see their child fall ill or even die. They
could do something that nobody will be able to control or blame them for."
Like most of the refugees
interviewed in the camp, Abu Bilal asked to be identified by his nickname
because he feared retaliation against relatives still living in Syria. Suleiman
complained that life in the camp was "one misery after the other as the
international community sits idle, doing nothing to help us get rid of the
tyrant Assad."
He worried that the winter
storm was serious enough to "kill children and old people." A woman
who gave her name as Um Ahmed and whose tent was also flooded said her
9-month-old daughter died at Zaatari recently. She blamed the cold, saying the
girl suffered from acute diarrhea and vomiting. Camp officials, however, have
not attributed any of the deaths to the cold.
A 37-year-old refugee, who gave
his name as Abu Samir, said he complained to camp authorities about the
conditions - and asked if those in the flimsy tents could receive one of the
2,500 trailers donated by Saudi Arabia - but the officials only dug a drainage
hole that did little to draw away the water from his and other sodden tents.
Another who called himself Abu
Abdullah griped about the length of time needed to meet even the simplest needs
and joked bitterly that a request for diapers for his two young sons required a
signature from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Ali Bibi, a liaison officer
with the U.N. refugee agency in Jordan, said the group was in the process of
finalizing plans for distributing the Saudi trailers. But he added that the
international community's financial support to Syrians - both those displaced
internally and those sheltering in neighboring countries - was "less than
modest" in response to a recent appeal.
Last month, the U.N. said it
needed $1 billion to aid Syrians in the region, while $500 million was required
to help refugees in Jordan. The UNHCR says 597,240 refugees have registered or
are awaiting registration with the agency in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and
Egypt. Some countries have higher estimates, noting many have found
accommodations without registering.
"We have asked the
international community to step up and support the Syrian refugees with better
infrastructure, like trailers and prefabricated units, to deal with harsh
winter elements," Bibi said.
Late Tuesday, Jordan's state TV
reported that after a regional official visited the camp. 70 families were
evacuated from tents to a different location. The World Food Program said it is
unable to help 1 million people who are going hungry inside Syria.
WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs
said the agency plans to provide aid to 1.5 million of the 2.5 million Syrians
that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent says are internally displaced. But the lack
of security and the agency's inability to use the Syrian port of Tartus for its
shipments means that a large number of people in the some of the country's
hardest hit areas will not get help, she said.
"Our main partner, the Red
Crescent, is overstretched and has no more capacity to expand further,"
Byrs said. The stormy weather also added to the plight of Syrian refugees in
Lebanon, where there have been torrential rains and flooding throughout the country.
Private and public schools in Lebanon were closed Tuesday and Wednesday, when
the storm was expected to be at its peak.
Two Syrian refugee encampments
in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley were immersed in water after the Litani River
flooded. Dozens of Syrian refugees left in search of alternate shelter along
with their soaked and muddy belongings.
Hiam al-Hussein, a 23-year-old
from Syria's war ravaged Homs district of Baba Amr, was among a group of
refugees who were sheltering in an open garage near the flooded al-Faour
encampment. "We had brought along with us a couple of mattresses, some
carpets. Everything is gone now," she said, wearing a sweater, pajama
pants and a pink scarf.
"God help the women and
children. The river flooded last night and suddenly everything around us was
swept away and swimming in water," said Abdullah Taleb, a refugee from the
northern city of Aleppo who arrived in Lebanon three months ago with his wife
and two children. "It's a nightmare we are living - a nightmare."
In the eastern Lebanese town of
Marj near the Syrian border, refugees reinforced flooded tents, and some were
blown away in the wind and rain. The small settlement of about 40 tents donated
by a Saudi charity and set up in cooperation with the UNHCR houses mostly women
and children.
"You tell me, is this a
life?" cried a middle-aged woman who gave her name as Ghalia. She fled with
her son to Lebanon after her husband died in shelling of the Damascus
neighborhood of Qaboun last year.
"We've been driven away
from Syria by the war and we cannot afford rent prices in Lebanon. We have
nothing but the clothes we brought with us to this tent, and now look at
us!" she said as water seeped into her tent.
Imad al-Shummari, head of the
al-Marj municipality, said authorities were working with the refugees to
reinforce their tents and provide alternate shelter, as well as distributing
heaters and extra blankets and other needs.
"We had flooding in many
areas," he said. Lebanon has about 175,000 Syrian refugees, according to
U.N. figures, although the Lebanese government estimates the number at 200,000.
Most are in schools and apartments, but a few are staying in tents they pitched
near the Syrian border.
The cold and rainy weather also
was causing problems at camps in Turkey, and tragedy struck at one site. Fire
spread through several tents at the Suleyman Shah refugee camp, killing two
children and injured four other people, according to the state-run Anadolu
Agency. A 5-year-old child died at the scene, while a 15-year-old died later of
his injuries in a hospital.
The fire apparently was caused
by the refugees' illegal use of electricity that is provided for radiators for
the tents, said Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay. Turkey's Disaster and
Emergency Management Authority, which oversees the refugee camps, said
authorities have been preparing for winter conditions since August. An official
from the unit in charge of the preparations said all refugees were given winter
boots, warm clothing, coats and blankets in November.
Almost all of the tents were
either revamped for cold weather or replaced with ones able to withstand winter
conditions, he said. All tents have heaters, according to the official who
spoke on condition of anonymity because of government rules.
Despite that, Mohammed al-Abed,
a 30-year-old Syrian in Turkey's Yayladagi camp, said conditions were
"cold, wet and miserable." Temperatures were close to freezing, he
said, adding that the tents were equipped with heaters but that bathrooms and
lavatories were about 300-500 yards (meters) away.
"Often there's a long line
of people, including freezing children, waiting in the cold to use the
bathrooms," he said. "There is no hot water. People are getting sick,
especially the children. There are lots of coughing, infections and people with
colds," he added.
"It's a miserable
situation, but I am ashamed to complain because we're much better off than our
brothers trapped in Syria," he said, citing conditions at the Atmeh camp
on the Syrian side of the border.
"At least we are better
equipped with some heaters and blankets. They have nothing, no heating, no
electricity. Nothing."
Associated Press
writers Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan; Mohammad Hannon in Zaatari, Jordan;
Hussein Malla in al-Faour, Lebanon; Zeina Karam in Beirut, Suzan Fraser in
Ankara, Turkey, and John Heilprin in Geneva contributed to this report.
