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Girls in a refugee camp in northern Syria collect twigs for firewood
Photo: YAHYA NEMAH/EPA
Out of desperation, those affected burn old clothes, plastic or sheep dung: Due to the onset of winter, the situation has drastically worsened, not only for refugees in northern Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
In view of ice and snowstorms with wind speeds of up to 80 km/h, people are even more threatened than before, warned the aid organization Care. Children would "walk around in flip-flops and torn shirts in life-threatening cold," said Jolien Veldwijk, Syria Director of Care. Record temperatures of minus 14 degrees Celsius are expected.
The snowstorm began on Tuesday and is expected to peak on Thursday, according to meteorologists.
There is not enough diesel for generators and frequent power cuts render electric heaters useless.
In a refugee camp in Afrin, northern Syria, the snow blocked roads and damaged tents, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Cutts wrote on Twitter.
He also published photos of tents under a thick blanket of snow.
The people in Afrin and Asas are cut off from supplies.
The aid organization Weißhelme showed the video of an excavator clearing a snow-covered street at night.
After more than ten years of civil war in Syria, 6.7 million people have been displaced within the country - the highest number in the world.
About the same number of refugees live in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, mostly in tents, shells or sheds.
In Lebanon alone, with its six million inhabitants, there are currently around 1.5 million refugees from Syria.
According to the United Nations, almost all of them suffer from extreme poverty.
In view of the rapidly rising prices, things of daily life such as energy, petrol or food are also becoming increasingly unaffordable for many Lebanese.
ulz/dpa/AP
