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Chad: Fire Sweeps Through Refugee Camp in East - 3,000 Homeless
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United Nations High Commission for Refugees (Geneva)
11 April 2008
Posted to the web 11 April 2008
Achebe
A fire swept through part of the remote Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad on Friday, leaving some 3,000 Darfurian refugees homeless. UNHCR staff reported that 10 people were slightly injured, and many refugees lost all their food rations and meagre belongings.
"The refugees have already suffered so much tragedy and now face yet another trauma," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in Geneva. "I am deeply relieved that there was no loss of life in this devastating fire. We will do everything we can to help and to get shelter and food supplies to them as quickly as possible."
The cause of the midday blaze was believed to be an untended cooking fire which spread rapidly, fanned by high winds.
"Everybody around, refugees and all our partners alike, rushed to the spot and tried to extinguish the fire with whatever they had -- clothes, extinguishers and water," said Emmanuel Uwurukundo, UNHCR's acting head of office in nearby Koukou-Angarana. "The teamwork was outstanding."
UNHCR staff immediately opened up stockpiles in the area and began delivering blankets and other aid supplies. This effort will continue throughout the weekend, drawing in supplies from around eastern Chad if necessary.
Goz Amer, about 40 kms from the Chadian town of Goz Beida and 70 kms from the Sudanese border, has a population of about 20,500 refugees. It is the southernmost of 12 UNHCR-run camps along a 600-km stretch of the Chad-Sudan border housing more than 240,000 Darfur refugees. The refugee agency also helps some 180,000 internally displaced Chadians in the east. The remoteness of the vast and sometimes insecure area makes it one of UNHCR's most logistically challenging operations anywhere.
UNHCR staff reported many women and children were deeply shocked by the fire. The affected families were being accommodated Friday night at three camp schools. On Saturday morning, tents and more aid supplies, including sleeping mats, blankets and kitchen sets, will be distributed. UNHCR has also asked its partner, the World Food Programme, to deliver an extra monthly food ration to those whose homes were destroyed during the fire.
Many of the refugees constructed traditional stick and mud shelters to replace UNHCR tents they received when they first arrived in 2004. The traditional huts were easily ignited in Friday's blaze. Uwurukundu said bricks should be used in future to avoid such incidents.
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UNHCR works with several partners in the region, including government counterpart CNAR, and NGOs INTERSOS, COOPI and OXFAM.
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| Copyright © 2008 United Nations High Commission for Refugees. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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