Thousands of refugee families are fleeing the Palestinian camps in Damascus as intensive fighting has erupted over the past couple of days. As a quick response the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has identified collective shelters and distributed mattresses for the newly displaced.
Thousands of refugee families are fleeing the Palestinian camps in Damascus as intensive fighting has erupted over the past couple of days. As a quick response the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has identified collective shelters and distributed mattresses for the newly displaced.
The situation in and around the Palestinian Refugee camp of Yarmuk in Southern Damascus has deteriorated significantly. No numbers have been confirmed, but many Palestinians were reported to have been killed due to intensive fighting and aerial bombardments of the camp yesterday and the fighting is still going on.
“Everybody is fleeing the camps right now – and they have no place to go,” says Charlotte Kjørup, head of DRC Syria.
“It is not straight forward to accommodate newly displaced Palestinian refugees in the collective shelters already in use by Syrian IDPs in and around Damascus,” she explains.
To solve the problem DRC has identified a couple of new schools and other buildings to be used as collective shelters for the Palestinian refugees. Further DRC in coordination with partners have delivered 1,275 mattresses to Palestinian refugees in four different locations, and further supported a new collective shelter with rehabilitation and shower units.
Today the distribution will continue, as DRC is likely to distribute another 500 mattresses as well as hygiene kits and winter clothes where needed.
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