Living in ‘an oven’: Heatwave grips displacement camps in Syria

Idlib, Syria – Under a scorching sun, Hamida Dandoush sprinkles water on her tent in an attempt to cool it down, hoping to alleviate the high temperatures for herself and her family. “Yesterday, my grandson started trembling and had difficulty breathing, so we took him to the hospital, and they told us it happened due to the heat inside the tent.” Warm weather affecting displaced people living in camps in northwest Syria is expected to escalate in the coming days, further exacerbating the suffering of those living in tents, which lack cooling mechanisms and are made of nylon fabric that intensifies the reflected heat. The Syrian Civil Defence teams conduct field visits to displacement camps to assess their conditions and provide necessary guidance to mitigate illnesses accompanying the rise in temperatures, in addition to providing essential healthcare. Hazem al-Hajji, a 30-year-old displaced person from southern Idlib countryside living in one of the camps near the Syrian-Turkish border, gathers children from the camp and sprays them with water, trying to entertain them and alleviate the intensity of the heat. “My children and I came to the pool after our water tank ran out due to excessive use caused by the high temperatures,” said Khaled Barakat, a 42-year-old displaced person from the town of Hazarin in the Idlib countryside living in one of the random camps near Idlib city.