Torrential rains damage hundreds of shelters for families displaced by the February 6 earthquakes in Syria.

Damascus, March 20 (RHC)-- Dozens of camps for displaced people in northwestern Syria have been damaged by flooding after a heavy storm hit the region late on Saturday.  Torrential rain in the western countryside of Idlib province damaged hundreds of shelters, many of which were recently set up to house the survivors of two February 6 earthquakes.  Roads were also impassable in some areas, according to the Syria Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets.

Several shelters were flooded in camps in Hafsarjah and Bishmaroun towns and shops collapsed in Adwan village, an official at the Syria Civil Defence told Al Jazeera. Camps in the western and northeastern countryside of Aleppo were also damaged.

“The torrential torrents caused damage to more than 40 camps, which were set up for those affected by the earthquake, in which more than 700 tents were damaged, a child was slightly injured, and shops collapsed, in addition to blocking a number of roads in cities and towns,” Munir Al-Mustafa, deputy director of the Syria Civil Defense, told reporters

Al-Mustafa said that more than 300 tents for the earthquake survivors in 20 camps were damaged. He said most of them were rapidly established and lacked suitable protection from winter storms.  “The tragedy experienced by displaced people cannot be solved by providing temporary services to them in camps, because tragedies can be endless and deprive people of the right to live safely in their homes.  Rather, the only solution is to provide safety for civilians to return to their homes, and that would also diminish the need for humanitarian and relief support,” al-Mustafa said.

Askarah al-Muhammad said that she and her three daughters had to flee their tent in Adwan camp in Sahl al-Rouj when it began to flood overnight.  “I was with my daughters inside the tent when rain started seeping into the tent and sweeping away all our things. We ran outside the camp without taking anything out of the tent with us,” 50-year-old al-Muhammad said.

Al-Muhammad said she lost contact with her daughters for hours amid the chaos before she located them on Sunday in a home in a nearby village, where they had fled overnight.  “It was a very difficult night.  On the one hand, I was shivering from the cold, and my back hurt because I have back problems. On the other hand, I was thinking about my daughters and what might have happened to them,” Al-Muhammad said.