Snowstorm Alexa sweeps across the Middle East, adding to refugees’ misery

Refugees already facing lack of shelter and fuel shortages struggle to cope with freezing temperatures, snow drifts, flooding and high winds, as powerful storm sweeps across Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Suha Maayeh and Phil Sands report

As Syrian refugees play with snow during a winter storm in Zahle, in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, several children are known to have died of cold. Mohamed Azakir / Reuters

AMMAN / A powerful winter storm sweeping across Syria, Lebanon and Jordan has added to the misery of millions of refugees, who are now struggling to cope with freezing temperatures, snow drifts, flooding and high winds.
Fuel shortages, lack of shelter, clothing and food supplies were already serious problems for Syria's vast refugee community, but have just been made more acute by the harsh conditions brought by the storm Alexa.
Syria's opposition National Coalition yesterday appealed for emergency fuel supplies for rebel-held parts of the country, saying that at least two children were known to have died from the cold, one in Aleppo the other in the western city of Rastan.
It is the third winter since the uprising in Syria began, with more buildings destroyed and a greater number of people displaced and in need of aid than in previous years. Worse weather is also expected to come.
There are 2.2 million refugees living outside of Syria, with Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey hosting the majority of them. Hundreds of thousands more have been displaced inside Syria, often with no connection to aid agencies whose work inside the country is restricted by tight government controls.
"We don't have mattresses to sleep on, we have to sleep on the floor and there is no way we can heat the house," said Abu Hamid, a father of five and a refugee from rebel-held Daraya on the southern edge of Damascus, who is now living in Wadi Barada, a town close to Syria's mountainous border with Lebanon.
"It snowed, the children are cold, there is no diesel or wood to burn for heating and the electricity is cut. It's a difficult situation, and there is no one to help us, we don't see the UN or anyone else coming," he said. Most of the family's possessions were left behind in wan torn Daraya, and the family barely has enough money to afford food.
Even in regime held parts of Damascus, residents were, as in previous years, having problems finding fuel, especially those who have been moving out of conflict areas — there is a permanent flow of refugees in and around Damascus, a roving tide of people moving as the fighting intensifies or fades in particular neighbourhoods.
"Some people stockpiled fuel for the winter during the summer months but we couldn't. We were running for our lives and had other things to think about," said a resident on the edge of Damascus. Power cuts worsened by the storm mean they have half an hour of electricity every three hours, barely enough to heat water on a stove for tea.
Outside of Syria, in Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp, even those fortunate enough to live in caravans rather than tents were having problems keeping the elements at bay.
"It is still difficult, it is so cold, we are all wrapped in blankets. The water has been leaking in and we have been trying to get rid of it since the morning," said Um Mohammad, a 23 year-old mother of six, who gave birth to her most recent child at the camp a month ago.
With their meagre resources, the family could do little to prepare for the storm, despite knowing it was heading their way.
"We survive on what we have. I am cooking lentil soup for the children but I'm worried we will run out of gas," she said.
Officials at the camp, the largest in the region with a population of almost 75,000 Syrian refugees, declared a state of emergency, with bulldozers, water pumps and extra tents on standby to deal with flooding and thick mud.
"New tents have been prepared and furnished with beds and blankets for families who may lose their tents. Other refugees will be transferred to the main reception site which is heated," said Waddah Hmoud, director of Jordan's Syrian Refugee Camps Department.
Several families had already been relocated to the emergency tents after their own shelters become waterlogged.
Even as the storm continued yesterday morning, new refugees continued to arrive at Zaatari, now considered by many a better alternative to living outside of the camp with its UN-administered facilities.
"Their clothes were wet, they were covered in mud and their shoes were destroyed, they were exhausted," said Eva McDonnell, an external relations officer at UNHCR.
"An elderly woman said she hadn't slept for three nights because of the cold. It's a tough situation. The UNHCR is distributing high thermal blankets at the border to warm people up," she said.
Outside of the camp, refugees were faring no better, with people living in unfinished houses with cardboard blocking holes where windows or doors should be, many them already struggling after a month in which their rations had been cutback.
"Three of my children are sick, they have colds and infections, and because they cannot get warm they will not get any better," said Abu Hamam, a 37-year-old father of five who fled from Syria to Amman.
"The water has been leaking through the window and the blankets and mattresses are all soaked, we had one gas cylinder for cooking and heating but it has just run out," he said.
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* Phil Sands reported from Istanbul