Syria: UN, 3 children died of cold and bad weather in the north

(ANSA) - BEIRUT, JAN 20 - Three children have died and two others are dying in the north-west of Syria due to an intense and prolonged wave of bad weather and the lowering of temperatures that have affected tens of thousands displaced for years crowded together in refugee camps consisting of tents and prefabricated structures.

    This was reported by the UN Office for Humanitarian Coordination (OCHA) and various humanitarian organizations operating in northern Syria.

    According to OCHA, a child died following the collapse of the roof of his shelter under the weight of the snow in the locality of Qastal Miqdad. The mother was seriously injured and is currently hospitalized in intensive care.

    Still according to the UN office, two children are in hospital and risk losing their lives from hypothermia in the Afrin area, on the border with Turkey.

    For its part, the international humanitarian organization CARE reported the deaths of two other children from cold in the northern region of Aleppo.

    Across the Middle East region a wave of bad weather has been falling for days which has hit, as it happens every year, the most vulnerable categories in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan.

    In northern Syria alone, the UN has documented for years the presence of about 4 million displaced persons in urgent humanitarian need.

   In Lebanon, the financial crisis has exacerbated the difficulties and according to the UN regarding the80% of the population now lives below the poverty line.

    More than a million Syrian refugees have survived in Lebanon for over ten years.

While in Jordan the refugees who fled the war in Syria are several hundred thousand.

   (HANDLE).