Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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ERBIL, Iraq – Families who returned to little more than decimated homes and towns following the defeat of ISIS forces across Northern Iraq have created a new challenge - a reverse migration flow of those who decided living in tent city or ramshackle housing camps is better than the alternative of homelessness and uncertainty.
“We heard Mosul was safe so we went back in October, but when we returned our house was destroyed. We had no money to rent,” Basma Aiden, a 40-year-old mother of nine, told Fox News from the Baharka camp outside of Erdbil. “There were no jobs. We decided it was better to live in a tent. At least we can be comfortable here. There is safety and security.”
Officials with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said they had hoped to close the camps after ISIS was driven out of the area last year. But that hasn't happened.
“Since the end of last year – we have been experiencing a reverse flow,” Hoshang Mohamed, Director of the Joint Crisis Center in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told Fox News. “The numbers at the camps are accumulatively increasing again. We have waiting lists.”
Mohamed said that between January and April alone, more than 4,500 people who had left for Mosul or other formerly ISIS-held areas had returned to their region. An average day of 40 families a day have been registering at the camp as returnees.
Under threat and homeless, displaced Iraqis return to the camps
It makes sense for someone to go and see if what you had still exists. It is a tad bit disorganized.
“We heard Mosul was safe so we went back in October, but when we returned our house was destroyed. We had no money to rent,” Basma Aiden, a 40-year-old mother of nine, told Fox News from the Baharka camp outside of Erdbil. “There were no jobs. We decided it was better to live in a tent. At least we can be comfortable here. There is safety and security.”
Officials with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said they had hoped to close the camps after ISIS was driven out of the area last year. But that hasn't happened.
“Since the end of last year – we have been experiencing a reverse flow,” Hoshang Mohamed, Director of the Joint Crisis Center in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told Fox News. “The numbers at the camps are accumulatively increasing again. We have waiting lists.”
Mohamed said that between January and April alone, more than 4,500 people who had left for Mosul or other formerly ISIS-held areas had returned to their region. An average day of 40 families a day have been registering at the camp as returnees.
Under threat and homeless, displaced Iraqis return to the camps
It makes sense for someone to go and see if what you had still exists. It is a tad bit disorganized.
