“This is very dangerous,” Kleinschmidt said. Illegally wired electricity cables also pose a risk of fires, come winter. Each household will also receive one gas cylinder, along with vouchers for gas refills every two weeks un til the end of February 2014. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) will distribute a gas heater for each household in the camp at the beginning of December, according to country director Carsten Hansen. “There are so many of them on sale now, but if I had that much money, why would I even be living in a camp?” he told IRIN.
Jabbawi, who has been in the camp since February, has not yet received a caravan and cannot afford to buy one. With winter approaching, refugees say prices have risen to as high 450 Jordanian dinars (US$635), leaving families who cannot afford them vulnerable to the elements. But in recent months, some Gulf States have “suspended” their donations, he said: “It could be financial.”Ĭaravans are instead sold and re-sold in a black market trade inside the camp, at prices few refugees can afford. “Our goal is to end the era of tents,” Kleinschmidt noted.Ĭurrently, UNHCR needs 4,000 more caravans to ensure each of the 24,000 households in the camp has one. “Time is running, but we feel we are on top of it,” said Kilian Kleinschmidt, who manages the camp on behalf of UNHCR.īy the end of the year, UNHCR hopes to have replaced all UN tents with caravans donated by Gulf states, as “the key step” to keeping people safe and warm during winter. In the northern part of Jordan, where Za’atari camp - home to some 120,000 people - is located, temperatures drop to below zero in January, the coldest month of the year.Ī week before the first rainfall this year, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told IRIN it had a better plan for winter this year. Older, unpaved parts of the camp became something of a swamp.Īs tensions rose because of the cold and windy conditions, refugees rioted and injured several aid workers at one of the food distribution sites. In January, when the camp was still relatively new and in emergency response phase, two days of heavy rainfall caused flooding across the camp, and several hundred people were temporarily displaced. “The tent just fell over our head,” said camp resident Mahmoud Jabbawi. One hour of heavy rainfall on 2 November soaked Za’atari camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan, highlighting the need to prepare the camp for the upcoming winter season.ĭozens of tents were damaged, according to refugees and aid workers, forcing families to seek refuge with neighbours and relatives who have pre-fabricated trailers, known as caravans.
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