The heatwave exacerbates the displacement crisis in al-Anbar
Shafaq News / For the seventh year in a row, the suffering of displaced people in al-Anbar is worsening, especially as the temperatures soar across the country, leading to fainting and heatstroke cases in al-habbaniyah and Bezebiz camps.
"Displacement camps in al-Anbar have witnessed several fainting and sunstroke cases as a result of rising temperatures and poor electricity supply in camps, which have resulted in insufficient water pumping for the displaced persons," an official in charge of the displacement file in al-Anbar told Shafaq News agency.
"Displaced families in the camps are in a deplorable state due to poor services and the near lack of aid from humanitarian organizations," he added.
Displaced people in al-Anbar are calling on the local and federal governments to find quick solutions to provide basic services, water, and electricity, or to end the security and tribal problems that haunt some of them to return them to their homeland.
"I have a wife and three children. We live inside this caravan, which has no air source other than this small window and that roof fan which if we turn on, it will do nothing but rotate the hot air," said Saad Rashid, a displaced person in the al-Fallujah district in eastern al-Anbar.
"If the government is unable to provide services to us, it should at least pledge to protect us and return us to our homeland," Rashid added, "If the government cannot take real action to resolve the displacement crisis, it should step aside in the hope that an alternative will come and do it."
As for Mohammed Halim, another displaced person, he sarcastically said, "they did not allow me to return to my hometown because my brother was involved with ISIS, and now that the government has eliminated terrorism, my six-year-old son suffered a sunstroke amid the lack of medical services in this camp."
Halim deemed the residents of his hometown, clans, security services, and the government "heroes of disparaging victory" for not allowing him to return to his place of residence.
"Health institutions in the governorate are working properly and receiving all patients, whether due to the heatwave or other etiologies, and the situation is very normal," said Khudhair Khalaf Shallal, director of al-Anbar Health Directorate.
"There are medical centers in all the governorate's cities, even inside the displacement camps. Those centers are monitoring the cases of the injured and sick and doing their duty to the fullest," Shallal added.
Mazen Al-Rishawi, Al-Anbar's governor's advisor for displaced persons, said, "The suffering caused by rising temperatures is nationwide, not just for the displaced persons. As for water and electricity services, they are available in the camps."
Regarding the demand of the displaced persons return to their areas, Al-Rishawi stated, "Whoever wants to return to his area can return because the governorate administration has a responsibility to solve his security or clan problem."
He also pointed, "the local government in al-Anbar is moving towards completely closing the al-habbaniyah camp, but the majority of families do not want to return. On several occasions, the local government registered their names and scheduled their return, but then the families change their minds."
Al-Rishawi said that he will personally solve the displaced persons' problems and sponsor the return of those who wish to return from the al-Habbaniyah camp to their hometowns.
As for the displaced in the bezebiz camp, al-Rishawi said, "This camp's case is complicated. The displaced there used to live in slums in al-Aweysat and al-Janabi areas, and solving their problems is the responsibility of the central government, not the al-Anbar government."
