UN, Camps in Iraq Prepare for New Wave of War Victims

UN, Camps in Iraq Prepare for New Wave of War Victims

IRBIL, IRAQ—

U.N. and camp officials in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region are already preparing for another wave of Iraqis displaced by war to flood into the area as the conflict against Islamic extremists rages on.

Since the war against the Islamic State militant¹ group erupted in 2014, more than 1 million displaced Iraqis have flooded into Kurdistan.

The majority are living packed into cheap hotels, with entire families sharing one small bedroom. Others are crammed² into churches, or paying rent to live in unfurnished houses, waiting for food aid to feed dozens of children. Still, others are in temporary camps.

Reaching a limit

The UNHCR’s coordinator³ for the Kurdistan region, Jozef Merkx, warned that the area’s ability to absorb more people was quickly reaching its limit.

“The absorption capacity is limited and at the moment that absorption capacity is fully⁴ stretched because you can imagine, that additional population needs to have access to health, to education, to water, to electricity,” Merkx told VOA.

In some parts of Kurdistan, 25 to 30 percent of the people were displaced Iraqis, and Kurdistan was already facing its own economic crisis, he said.

Yet more displaced Iraqis are expected.

“If Mosul is going to be retaken, we have to be prepared for more displacement⁵ into the Kurdistan region,” Merkx said. “And of course, we need tents, we need emergency stocks, to address the needs if people have to flee again from areas that might be affected⁶ by conflict.”

Ahmed Abdul, director of the Baharka camp on the outskirts⁷ of Irbil, said it's not only the newly displaced who would need help and those who have been living on their own were running out of money and were now on waiting lists to enter camps.

“We are expecting that this issue or that this crisis will still continue and we are expecting more and more families [that we need] to provide them with accommodation and shelter,” he said.

Families arrive daily

Abdul pointed⁸ at a site map pinned onto the wall of a metal container unit sitting in the 46-degree Celsius⁹ (115-degree Fahrenheit) heat that functions as an office. He said families arrived on a daily basis, so the camp was hoping to extend its borders to allow another 100 families to take shelter.

Abdul said few were seeing a way out of what began as an emergency one year ago.

“Go inside the camp and ask people; actually they have no hope until now, they have no hope to stop this crisis," he said.

Located on the dusty outskirts of Irbil, Baharka is one of the more settled camps. Hundreds of other less well-equipped camps are scattered¹⁰ around the region.

Warning of possible mass migration¹¹ out of the region, aid agencies are already appealing for more help.

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

3 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

10 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

11 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。