Affordable shelter needed urgently for Iraq's newly displaced

Briefing notes

Affordable shelter needed urgently for Iraq's newly displaced

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

13 June 2014

A shortage of shelter is emerging as a key challenge for the several hundred thousand Iraqis who have fled this week's violence in Mosul to Iraq's Kurdistan region.

UNHCR monitoring teams report that many of the 300,000 people being reported by local authorities to have sought safety in the Erbil and Duhok governorates arrived with little more than the clothes they were wearing. Many people have no money, and nowhere to go. While some stay with relatives, others are temporarily in hotels where they are exhausting what funds they have. Many families in Duhok are also sheltering in schools, mosques, churches and unfinished buildings.

A growing number of people are now staying in a hastily set-up transit camp near the Khazair checkpoint, some 40 kilometers from Mosul. Over the past two days, UNHCR has helped the government pitch tents there, and is providing plastic sheets, hygiene kits and other relief items to the displaced. The host communities are providing hot meals and other food. Sister UN agencies are installing latrines and water tanks, and providing other relief items.

UNHCR has also delivered close to a thousand family tents to a new camp being built by authorities and NGOs at Garmawa, near Duhok in the Kurdistan region. Teams started raising tents yesterday, and we expect the camp will initially host some 3,000 people. Planning is underway for two more sites in Minara, south of the Bedrike checkpoint and Zummar, near Sehela, in case they are needed.

This weekend, UNHCR protection teams will be gathering more information on where other displaced people are staying, and how we can best meet their needs. We are also identifying the most vulnerable among the displaced, such as the elderly, disabled, pregnant women and children, and reaching out to other humanitarian groups to provide immediate emergency support.

While the rate of new arrivals to the Kurdistan region has slowed over the last day or so, the situation remains fluid with fighting continuing on several fronts and further displacement could take place. Other displaced people are spread out beyond the Kurdistan region with some going to Baghdad and elsewhere, while others have remained in Ninewa province. Our monitoring teams at checkpoints observe that some Mosul families are returning after hearing that water and electricity services have been restored. Others say they are returning because they ran out of money, and prefer to return home than stay in mosques, empty buildings or other collective shelters.

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