ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Hundreds of tents burned down in the Sharia camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Duhok province on Friday when a fire broke out, governor Ali Tatar said.
The cause of the blaze is still unclear.
Tatar said in a statement on his Facebook account that 370 tents burned down, adding “184 families out of 994 have lost their belongings and their money.”
Tatar also said the families will be compensated with new tents, food and other needs.
The governor later said both Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and PM Masrour Barzani have spoken by phone with him, “expressing their full readiness to extend a helping hand and support to the affected families and all IDPs.”
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in a statement 400 tents burned down, adding that they are working with relevant authorities to respond to the needs of the victims.
“We will continue to work with authorities and the residents of the camp in order to find ways to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
“We were barely able to save our documents,” one of the inhabitants of the tents told Rudaw. “At least three blocks have burned down. This is half of Sharia (camp).”
“A catastrophe has happened,” another resident said.
Some residents complained that firefighters did not arrive soon enough.
Sharia camp is home to displaced Yazidis who fled Shingal after the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked the district.
Shingal Mayor Mahma Khalil, who runs affairs in Shingal from Duhok, visited the camp and said the incident was “a great humanitarian catastrophe.”
Khalil blamed the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and the camp’s administration for the fire, saying they failed to dedicate firefighting vehicles to the camp.
“The fire has been controlled and no one has died,” a civil defense official told Rudaw. “We have not determined the reason behind the fire.”
He added the camp has a firefighting team but the density of the camp prevented them from accessing the tents that had caught fire.
Additional reporting by Nasir Ali
Updated at 8:51 pm
