The “Violet” Organization is working on the implementation of a project that seeks to insulate 4000 tents in four camps in Azaz, rural Aleppo, and 556 tents in the Maarrat al-Ikhwan camp, Idlib.
The project, which Violet Organization started on December 1, 2018, and expected to finalize on March 31, 2019, covers four camps in Azaz: Ahl al-Sham, al-Haramain, Sajo and al-Mukawameh camps.
Ahmad al-Shaikh, the director of the project, informed Enab Baladi of the ends that the Organization seeks to achieve, saying that they include insulating the tents’ interior with sponge and aluminum foil, which guarantees thermal insulation.
The Organization’s activities also include the distribution of waterproof plastic sheets, the insulation of floors, by elevating them 20cm from the earth using bricks and pebbles, to distance them from the running water’s level, in addition to replacing 1200 weather-damaged tents.
The rainfalls witnessed by Syria early this year inflicted massive damage upon the internally displaced people’s camps in Northern Syria and caused the collapse of many tents.
The Possible Solution
Al-Shaikh said that this project is in the interest of the tents’ residents, given the inability at replacing them with makeshift houses or caravans.
It is difficult to replace tents with houses due to high costs, especially since the majority of the camps have been established on privately owned lands, the owners of which refuse the construction of any buildings, and many of whom also refused the application of floor insulation to tents erected on their land, the project director said.
In addition to this, in Northern Syria there are no additional spaces to construct IDPS camps, whose number is massive, and the UN estimated with about 6.2 million persons.
Mohammad Swaid, a man displaced from Wadi Barada, Damascus, is one of the project’s beneficiaries, told Enab Baladi that the project is a “success,” as it helped in resisting cold, which earlier on was a cause to a deep suffering. It also developed the shape of the tents.
Meeting Needs
The “International Organization for Migration” supported and funded the project while the “Violet” Organization evaluated all the tents within the targeted camps and then decided those in most need for renovation or replacement.
According to al-Shaikh, the dire condition of the tents necessitates further intervention, ranging from road maintenance to addressing sewage systems. However, this project focuses on the habilitation of the tents to make them “somehow” habitable.
In 2018, The “International Organization for Migration” demanded about $105 million to meet the internally displaced Syrian people’s needs. But it received 53% of the demanded sum only.
In its plan for 2019, the Organization asked for $89 million, expecting a rise in the number of the displaced people, given the continuing hostilities, lack of security and stability, mentioning that despite the fact that about 1.3 million IDPs have returned to their homes, 1.4 million people were displaced in sync.
The International Organization, under its plan, aims to replace or offer tents to 18 thousand beneficiaries, asking for more than $24 million to coordinate and run the camps, including the development of their infrastructure and renovation of the tents.