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By Dina Baslam
Over 130,000 people have fled the fighting in Syria to neighbouring Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
Hosting the second highest number of refugees after Turkey, Jordan is today sheltering over 39,500 registered Syrians, 75 percent of whom are women and children - although the Jordanian government puts the number at over 150,000.
Zaatari camp is the first official tent camp in Jordan. As part of its regional response plan, ECHO funds humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan.
On 29 July, Syrian refugees were moved to Jordan’s first official tent camp on the outskirts of the northern city of Mafraq.
Some 2,000 tents were set up in the Zaatari camp, which now hosts about 3,000 refugees. The camp will be expanded to accommodate 20,000 people.
Medical services are offered to refugees from a makeshift caravan clinic. The camp also operates a child friendly space where psycho-social support is offered to children.
Earlier this week, the government, together with UNICEF, announced plans to open a school for young Syrian refugees, an initiative funded by the EU.
Six-year-old Widad stands in front of her family’s sand-covered tent at Zaatari camp. The family’s situation is exacerbated as two members are wheelchair-ridden.
Women and children make up 75 percent of the refugees crossing the border. Being the most vulnerable, they have been gravely affected by the crisis.
Heat and lack of cold drinking water are among the main concerns voiced by refugees, some of whom, despite their torment, are respecting the fast of the holy month of Ramadan.
The Commission's total humanitarian assistance to the Syrian crisis to date amounts to €40 million.
Photo credit: Dina Baslan, ECHO communications and information assistant
