Refugees primary victims of the storm

BEIRUT: Syrian refugees across Lebanon have resorted to burning clothes, rags and scraps of wood to survive Zina, the harsh winter storm which has lashed the country over the two days.

While Zina’s bitter cold and gale force winds have been felt throughout Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees living in tented settlements across the country face critical conditions.“We haven’t left the tent for three days,” said Umm Mohammad, a refugee living with her family in a tent in Arsal. “We’re burning rags instead of heating oil to keep our stove lit. ... The children are all cold.”

While her family was promised warm winter clothes by an aid agency, she said they have received nothing.

Abu Jassem, a Syrian refugee living in Bar Elias, said that people trying to keep warm inside their unheated shelters by burning lumber and waste paper. “People are setting fire to anything they can find, including clothes, to keep warm. It is a most tragic situation.”

Strong winds and accumulated snow have caused tents to collapse in camps across the Bekaa Valley.

“Last night we didn’t sleep,” said Abu Mohammad, who resides in a tented settlement in Arsal.

“We spend all our time clearing the roof of the tent so it doesn’t fall on us. We have to do it every five minutes,” he told The Daily Star. More than 50 centimeters of snow have fallen on Arsal over the past two days.

Three Syrian refugees died after being caught in the storm on the outskirts of the Shebaa Farms while trying to cross into Lebanon from Syria. A source told The Daily Star that authorities found the bodies of two Syrians, including a young boy, in a cave where they had sought shelter. Another man traveling with them also died when he sought help.

Sheikh Mohammad Jarrah, who presides over a mosque in Shebaa, said that the situation for refugees was dire. “For two to three days they have gone without heating oil,” he said. “People are burning wood, and if they don’t have wood they are burning sheets and mattresses.”

Heating oil is among the most exigent needs, said Muhammad Nour Qarahani, who works with the aid organization Igatheyya.

“There is a huge need for heating oil,” Qarhani said, adding that his group had launched a campaign asking donors to provide refugees with “cash, diesel, anything.”

Relief efforts have been hampered by road closures across the country, including the vital Dahr al-Baidar highway which links the Bekaa Valley to the coast.

“With roads impassable in the Bekaa, our staff have not been able to reach refugee settlements, but refugees have sent photos of themselves clearing the snow from their tents,” said Niamh Murnaghan, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Lebanon.

Staff at the UNHCR offices “are continuing to work throughout the storm” although “road closures are affecting some operations,” said spokesperson Dana Sleiman.

Sleiman said UNHCR had opened a crisis cell in the Bekaa Valley in conjunction with other relief groups and local authorities, but that to date “there were no major incidents in the Bekaa.”