Heavy snowfall leaves Duhok’s displaced struggling
Shafaq News– Duhok
Displaced families in Duhok, northern Iraqi Kurdistan Region, are facing worsening living conditions after heavy snowfall swept across large parts of the province in recent days, piling snow inside camps and exposing acute shortages of basic services, particularly heating fuel.
Saeed Barakat, who has lived in the camp for more than a decade, said this winter is unlike any he has experienced. “This is the first time in 11 years we’ve seen snowfall this heavy,” he said. “The snow reached about 60 centimeters inside the camp.”
Barakat explained that families received just 100 liters of kerosene, distributed by a Canadian aid organization, an amount he described as insufficient to heat tents that remain bitterly cold. “Children are the most vulnerable. The cold raises serious fears of illness,” he added.
Another displaced resident, Sariya Qasim, said assistance this winter has been far below what is needed. “Winter here is extremely harsh, and this year there is not enough support,” she told Shafaq News, noting that displaced families have now endured 11 winters under difficult camp conditions, saying their only remaining hope is to receive adequate aid and eventually return to their home areas when circumstances allow.
The director of Duhok’s Migration and Displacement Department, Diyan Jafar, revealed to Shafaq News that his office has yet to receive any kerosene —relied upon for heating— allocations from the federal Ministry of Migration and Displacement.
“We have sent repeated requests to the relevant authorities, but without any response so far,” Jafar said, warning that the delay is compounding the suffering of displaced families amid the ongoing cold wave.
Kurdistan hosts nearly one million displaced persons and refugees, including roughly 664,000 internally displaced (IDP) Iraqis and nearly 242,000 refugees, many of whom fled conflict and instability elsewhere in Iraq and neighboring countries since the rise of ISIS and subsequent crises.
