According to the Greek Ministry of Migration, the site is located at Cara Tape, near the current camp. Army helicopters are carrying tents and other supplies to the new makeshift camp.
Migrants and refugees, now lining the main road connecting the island city of Mytilene and Moriana, will be directed to the site by officials.
They must register and undergo rapid coronavirus tests before being allowed admission.
The fire in Moria was deliberately ignited after quarantine rules were imposed on residents who tested positive for coronavirus in Europe’s largest refugee camp, Greek officials said.
Many did not want to return to the refugee camp and leave the island, but the Greek government insisted it should not be “blackmailed.”
Officials said there are no plans to relocate more from Lesbos after 406 vulnerable children were relocated to mainland Greece following the destruction of much of Moria this week.
Moria had an estimated 13,000 people – six times its capacity.
Refugees from the camp have been left homeless and hungry in the flames, sleeping on some roads and gas stations while dozens of families have taken refuge in nearby cemeteries.
Constantinos Costakos, director of the Greek Immigration Minister’s Office, said authorities would temporarily relocate about 1,000 migrants – especially people from weaker groups – to a ship at Sigri on the west side of the island.
“This is the first ship to land on the island. We will consider bringing in more if needed,” Costakos said. But he warned that they would not be moved from the island.
“The Greek government will not be blackmailed. What happened – this ‘burn and go’ strategy – will not be tolerated.”
Costakos said Friday that authorities are looking for migrants who tested positive for coronavirus. “The 35 [who tested positive for Covid-19] “Not located yet,” he said.
“They are still missing. We are introducing rapid covid tests and new separate locations are also being created. We expect the situation to be brought under control very soon.”
Residents of Lesbos have paved several roads on the island to carry materials to the army or other vehicles to rebuild or clear the camp.
Locals were already at loggerheads with the government over plans to replace Moria, fearing that thousands of asylum seekers would remain permanently on the island.
France and Germany join forces
German Chancellor Angela Merkel last night confirmed plans by France and Germany to take the minor off the island, in the hope that other EU countries would join.
“I asked the Greek prime minister how we could help and he requested that we also take the minors who were taken to the Greek mainland.”
“We have approached France. Germany and France will take part.”
Merkel said the issue of migration is not just a problem of Germany, or the country where people come from, adding that it must become a “European responsibility”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had confirmed this after the two countries were co-ordinating to find a solution to welcome refugees from the camp.
He added that Europe had to stand united with Greece to face the “terrible reality that is before us”.
‘Anger and frustration’
It is not yet clear how the fire started at the scattered camp, which has spread from the main UN camp to Olive Groves where thousands of people live in makeshift wooden huts in class conditions. Residents say they wait for hours to use the bathroom and sometimes spend the whole day in the food queue.
When CNN reported from the camp in March that the stench filled the air, the river overflowed with rubbish and campers were protesting at the island’s main port on an almost daily basis demanding Greek mainland transportation.
The anger and frustration of the refugees detained at Moria erupted “after the Korean virus virus lockdown was imposed,” the German charity group Mission Lifeline said in a statement.
The statement said, “There was a dispute at the Covid-19 station in the first camp which spread throughout the area during the night. Security forces used tear gas.” “Most of the housing was burnt down. Homeless people fled to the surrounding olive groves.”
Axel Stear, co-founder of Mission Lifeline, said he had warned that the situation would “escalate” due to the camp’s poor conditions.
“The people of Moria are exposed to extreme mental stress. The lockdown of the camp has now become the final straw,” Steer said. “Morea refugees are not considered human.”
“I came here in 2018, too, and I thought at the time that it really couldn’t get any worse. I’m here in 2020 now, and I was wrong: it’s worse And for the kids too. We’re talking about kids who probably knew nothing but war and now their futures are being snatched from them once again. “
Paul Kadima Muzangueno, a resident of the Cong camp, told CNN that a group of minors started the fire.
“They started firing everywhere,” Muzangueno said. “Everything quickly deteriorated. The situation did not come to the police.”
Another resident, who declined to give his full name for security reasons, said: “Some people in the camp were angry about the quarantine. They started a little fire. So the police came and there was tear gas. And then there was the fire. We had to grow and we had to run. “
“There’s nothing. I’m camping out on the street, near the camp, there are a lot of people here. There are police but they don’t tell us where to go. We don’t have food or water. It’s hot and there are women and children in it, “he added.
“We lost everything, like clothes and medicine,” Mahtab, an Afghan foreign minister, told CNN.
Melissa Belle reported from Athens, Greece to Lesbos and Alinda Labropoulo and Chris Liacos. CNN’s Zahid Mahmood, Emma Reynolds, Stephanie Halaz and Your Qiblawi contributed to this report.
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