AYS Daily Digest 2/9/19: Relocations and Evacuations to Poor Conditions in Camps Across Greece
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Europe, Digest, Migration, Greece

Athens

Police are investigating a possible racist motive after shots were fired against an Afghan migrant outside the Athens University of Economics and Business earlier tonight.

The incident that occurred on Antoniadou Street, resulted in the minor injury of the victim that was transferred to the Nikaia Hospital.

Two unknown perpetrators on a scooter passed in front of him and shot at him with what was possible an air rifle, injuring him slightly in the hand and face.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Health issues in Vučjak camp

Vučjak, near Bihać — A medical team from Slovenia has drafted a list of needs and detailed the current situation in their Short draft of needs assessment for refugee emergencies (NARA). Here are the most important issues regarding the question of health:

“The local health system is severely underfunded and underequipped to handle their own patients, with the migrant situation putting additional stress on the system, adding to the discontent of the local medical workers and the locals with the migrants.

The camp is currently housing between 600 and 1200 people, depending on the flow of migration and police raids. The average number of people in the camp is around 800 at any given time. The camp spans on 0.1 km², far to small for the number of people being held there. The tents built by the local red cross are mostly 10 person cotton tents with the polyester floor, but there are not nearly enough and most refugees sleep outside or in the big tents meant for food distribution. While the floor is currently dry, any rain turns the camp into a mud field, with the previous purpose (landfill/dump yard) of the land still showing and toxins in the ground still active. There are no permanent objects with the exception of one ruin of a house which is at the centre of the social life in the camp. While day and night temperature difference in the tents is high, it is not critical yet, however, with the coming of the autumn and winter, the shelters provided will offer little to no protection from the elements. Vector control does not exist. (Lyme borreliosis is endemic to the area). The local red cross is replacing small tents with big tenets and has stockpiled 10 heating cannons for the tents, but they are not in use yet.

There is no electricity or running water.

While 4 German red cross sanitation containers are installed there, the quantity and quality do not meet Sphere standards for humanitarian situations. The water is brought to the camps 3 times a day with a small truck cistern and frequently runs out. While the quality of water is not in question where the cistern is filled, the quality of water in the camp is questionable due to old/inappropriate water containers being used.

For the current number (around 800) people, there should be 40 toilets provided, however, only 8 are there, filling just 20% of the standard. None of the toilets have adequate lighting or are within 50 meters of the living quarters, failing the other major requirements and only providing safety, but not privacy. This is one of the reasons why the refugees choose to do their business in the surrounding Forrest, the other being horrendous sanitary conditions at the provided facilities.

The number of showers is 20, 10 of those outside and 10 in the sanitation containers, however the ones inside are mostly not functional and therefore not usable. Most people choose to shower outside or directly from the tap.

Healthcare is provided only by volunteers with various medical experience, so the quality of care varies. Since there is no electricity, diagnostic equipment is limited, and most work is done with improvised means. All medical supplies are paid for from private donations collected by Dirk Planert and there is no local medical support. Red cross provides no medical help at all, other than allowing the volunteers to work undisturbed. They do, however, distribute 2 meals every day for the majority of the camp. The clinic is also not housed in a permanent structure, but in a tent, meaning all medical supplies have to be removed from the camp when the clinic closes as the people use it to sleep in it at night. There is no running water and washing hands is impossible for medical workers. Instead, wet wipes and hand disinfection are used. The local emergency room declines to send ambulances to the camp so all emergencies have to be driven with volunteers private vehicles, but the medical capabilities of the clinic are at least equal or greater to those of the emergency room, so very few migrants are driven there, except for getting a referral to hospital. Daily, around 12–15% of the camp seeks medical attention, along with the red cross and police personnel occasionally. Due to the workload and operational pace, medical records are hard to maintain/manage, and only the most severe examples are logged, however, this is done in an improvised manner potentially incompliant with patient privacy and informational security needed for such evidence. The private nature of funding enables the health workers to provide care above the local standard, but very few have the knowledge, as most volunteers are either students, ambulance workers or nurses, making the operation heavily dependent on the individuals, rather than establishing a system anyone can take over/work in.”

Read our AYS Special: Outsiders’ perspective — The Bosnian Frontier: