Fire burns five caravans in Yazidi IDP camp in Duhok province
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A fire swept through a camp in Duhok province housing displaced Yazidis on Tuesday, burning five caravans. No casualties were reported.
Pir Dayan, head of the Joint Crisis Coordination Center’s (JCC) Duhok branch, told Rudaw’s Naif Ramazan on Tuesday that five caravans in Shekhan district’s Mam Rashan camp were burned in the blaze.
Three of the caravans belonged to Sabri Naif’s family.
“The houses included goods, our clothes, boxes and other stuff. All were burned. Children were inside but were rescued by their mother. The fire was caused by an electric fault,” he said.
He added that when the firefighters arrived, the caravans had already been reduced to ashes. He estimated the loss to be approximately 10 million Iraqi dinars ($6,500).
Fires are a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region’s displacement camps.
A fire engulfed a camp in Duhok province’s Dawdia camp housing internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Shingal in July, burning at least 17 caravans without resulting in any casualties.
There are 16 camps in Duhok housing Shingal IDPs.
Thousands of Yazidis still remain in IDP camps despite Islamic State (ISIS) being driven away from their lands, as their homes are in need of reconstruction. The presence of several armed forces in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal is believed to be one of the key obstacles before the returning of people to the district.
Pir Dayan, head of the Joint Crisis Coordination Center’s (JCC) Duhok branch, told Rudaw’s Naif Ramazan on Tuesday that five caravans in Shekhan district’s Mam Rashan camp were burned in the blaze.
Three of the caravans belonged to Sabri Naif’s family.
“The houses included goods, our clothes, boxes and other stuff. All were burned. Children were inside but were rescued by their mother. The fire was caused by an electric fault,” he said.
He added that when the firefighters arrived, the caravans had already been reduced to ashes. He estimated the loss to be approximately 10 million Iraqi dinars ($6,500).
Fires are a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region’s displacement camps.
A fire engulfed a camp in Duhok province’s Dawdia camp housing internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Shingal in July, burning at least 17 caravans without resulting in any casualties.
There are 16 camps in Duhok housing Shingal IDPs.
Thousands of Yazidis still remain in IDP camps despite Islamic State (ISIS) being driven away from their lands, as their homes are in need of reconstruction. The presence of several armed forces in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal is believed to be one of the key obstacles before the returning of people to the district.