Even before the Corona pandemic, it was difficult to provide food for displaced people who had fled the Turkish occupation zone in northern Syria. In the Washokani camp new measures against the virus have been taken.
In the Washokani camp, located twelve kilometres from Hesekê, where almost 10,000 people displaced from Serêkaniyê live, the camp management is taking measures against the Corona pandemic together with the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor a Kurd).
Cihan Amir, an employee of Heyva Sor, tells the precautionary measures taken in Washokani to protect the people against the viral disease: "The entire camp was first disinfected. Visits to the camp were stopped. If someone has to leave the camp on an urgent matter, fever is measured in a separate room at the camp entrance on their return. Specialist groups have been formed to go from tent to tent in the camp and educate the residents on how to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Outside the camp we have set up ten tents as quarantine stations."
Cihan Amir appeals to the world community and international aid organisations to support the Kurdish Red Crescent with medicine and necessary material.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Northern Syria
More than 350,000 people were displaced by the Turkish invasion of northern and eastern Syria, which began on 9 October 2019. The civilian population from the regions of Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ain), Girê Spî (Tal Abyad) and Til Temir (Tal Tamr) was initially housed in schools and other public buildings in the neighbouring villages. As a next step, the Autonomos Administration has set up two reception camps in Raqqa and Hesekê for the displaced persons. Even before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, it was hardly possible to take care of the refugees. No cases of infection are known in the region so far.
