The heavy rainfall across western Aleppo and Idlib governorates in Northwest Syria has reportedly caused damage to sites for internally displaced people, damaging tents and cutting off roads leading up to the camps, said OCHA.

 

While the damage continues to be assessed, there are reports that more than 1,700 households in Northwest Syria have been affected by flooding, with more than 200 tents destroyed and over 1,400 tents damaged, it said.

 

Northwest Syria is a region that gets bitterly cold in the winter, where the situation for many living in inadequate shelters can quickly become intolerable and potentially life-threatening.

 

Some 6.7 million people are displaced across Syria, of whom one-third are estimated to be living in inadequate shelter conditions, including damaged and/or unfinished buildings. There are 2.7 million displaced people in Northwest Syria alone, including 1.5 million who live in camps or informal settlements. These locations are crowded, and too often there is inadequate shelter for the winter conditions, said OCHA.

 

While humanitarian workers have distributed winter assistance to 2.3 million people across Syria, including sleeping bags, winter clothing, heating fuel, and assistance to repair and replace tents, there remains a 32-million-U.S.-dollar funding gap for these basic items, said the office.