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89% of people displaced by the Syrian conflict were displaced again by Feb 6th earthquakes in Northwest Syria - Action For Humanity
9 in 10 people in Northwest Syria who had already been displaced at least once in Northwest Syria by the conflict, were displaced again by the earthquake, a report released today by Action For Humanity finds. The report No Place But Displacement released by Action For Humanity, the parent charity of Syria Relief, is released today to mark 12 years since the start of the Syrian conflict, which began on March 15th, 2011.
Prior to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks, which tore through Northern Syria and Southern Turkiye on February 6th, the population of Northwest Syria was 4.4 million. 2.8 million (64%) of those people were IDPs (internally displaced persons) and 1.8 million of those IDPs (64% of displaced population in Northwest Syria, 41% of total population) were living in 1,420 IDP camps. The report, which looks into the nature of the displacement of people in these camps following 12 years of war and the earthquakes, finds:
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9 out of 10 (89%) people in IDP camps in Northwest Syria had already been displaced by the conflict at least once, when they were displaced by the earthquakes last month - 98% of people in IDP camps were displaced by the earthquakes in total, 9% of families were newly displaced by the earthquakes.
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91% of people in IDPs in Northwest Syria were displaced by the conflict at least once over the past 12 years.
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Multiple displacement is very common for the majority of IDPs in camps. Whilst 12% have been displaced once or twice, 65% of IDP households have been displaced between three and seven times. Nearly a quarter (23%) have been displaced eight or more times.
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As the above numbers suggests, the earthquakes meant all of people who had already been displaced, most of whom multiple times, by the conflict had been displaced at least once more.
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Displacement has forced overcrowding. Over two-thirds of households in IDP camps (64%) have between 4 and 7 people in and almost a quarter of households (23%) have between 8 and 13 people in them.
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More funding is needed as part of the response in Northwest Syria to build permanent and semi-permanent homes for the million people left at greater security and health risks by not being in proper shelter.
Action For Humanity are calling on donors to donate to their *Rebuilding Syria One Village At A Time *housing project, in order to alleviate the catastrophic shelter needs in Northwest Syria at https://actionforhumanity.org/appeals/build-a-home-in-syria/
Othman Moqbel, Chief Executive Officer of Action For Humanity, says:
“The past 12 years have been heartbreaking for the people of Syria. So many people have been killed and injured and lost their homes. And sadly, so many people lost their home multiple times. When the war started some people were in places like Damascus, Dara'a, all across the country and were displaced when the fighting came to their town or village. They fled for their lives to places like Aleppo, like Raqqa, only to be displaced once again to places like Idlib, only to be displaced once again when fighting arrived there. So many people - and, as this report shows, the majority of people - have been displaced between three and seven times. In extreme examples, some have had to leave their home over 20 times. Can you imagine a life where you and your family have been forced to be homeless, in fear of your lives, four, five or six times? This is the reality for millions of people in Northwest Syria.
"And if this was not enough, virtually all of the IDPs in Northwest Syria - 98% - were displaced by the devastating earthquakes on February 6th. Families who had lost everything multiple times, lost everything once again. And, sadly, 89% of these families had already been displaced at least once prior to this by the 12 years of conflict.
"Life in IDP camps is not safe, and with 9 out of 10 IDP households housing under 18s, children are at an increased risk of exploitation, child labour, child violence and other child protection dangers. In addition, IDP camps often have poor access to services like clean and hygienic water and medical services - meaning they are high risk environment for disease outbreaks, such as cholera which has killed 101 people and infected over 92,000 to date, 18% of all suspected cases have been from IDP camps.
"As part of the earthquake recovery, there needs to be a greater focus and increased funding towards shelter by UN bodies and donor governments. At Action For Humanity we are raising funds to build dignified living space for those affected and calling for support from donors for the planned construction of the third phase of 500 homes in the Aleppo governorate of Northwest Syria. Each home unit will be 50 square metres in size. These units will serve as homes for IDPs currently living in camps and informal settlements. However, the findings today show that this is just a drop in the ocean to meet the catastrophic shelter needs of the people who have been displaced multiple times in Northwest Syria. Further funding by UN and donor governments is essential so NGOs can scale up these projects.
"As we commemorate 12 years since this conflict started today, the majority of these 12 years have seen humanitarian suffering in Syria spiral with the apathy and ignorance of the rest of the world. The devastating earthquakes temporarily brought attention to the needs of Syrians. We cannot let the world forget once again the situation here. Ignoring Syria leads to greater needs. Suffering grows in the darkness, apathy will only allow the conditions to lead to greater displacement. Only action can reverse the spiralling humanitarian needs in Syria."