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UNCERTAIN DESTINATION: Refugees from the Moria camp stand, sit and lie down in the streets of Lesbos after their spartan home caught fire. Photo: MANOLIS LAGOUTARIS / AFP
13,000 homeless people on the streets without food or drink, and among them: 35 infected by corona, who are no longer isolated. Aid workers on the island tell VG about the total chaos after the great fire.
– We are talking about 13,000 people on the street, without a roof, without food or drink, without anything. The police have blocked the road so that they cannot enter the city. There are continuous clashes between the refugees and the police. Various things are set on fire.
This is what psychologist Grigoris Kavarnos says over the phone from Lesbos to VG on Wednesday morning. He has worked for the largest humanitarian organizations on the island since 2005.
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VG Sources: Corona Dispute Is Said To Be The Cause Of Moria Fire
After much of the infamous Moria refugee camp burned down Wednesday night, Kavarnos is trying to take over his patients. Many of them have chronic disorders, several are suicidal. The last two months of the corona closure of the field have worsened the condition of many of them.
– The situation is incredibly demanding. The only reaction of the government to the fire is to send riot police. There is no solution, there is no plan for what will happen to the refugees.
PSYCHOLOGIST: Grigoris Kavarnos has lived on Lesbos for 25 years, treating refugees on the island. Photo: Giorgos Moutafis, VG
“A sizzling pot that had to explode”
A representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lesbos sums up the situation in Moria as follows:
– Moria was a sizzling pot that at some point had to explode. What has happened now is just one more test of what we in the humanitarian organization have been asking for for so long: we must immediately reduce the number of people here, she tells VG.
So far, there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries after the fire.
– The more time goes by without us finding out about the deaths, the better. But we wait for everything, says the UNHCR representative.
The Moria camp was originally sized for about 3,000 people, but in recent years between 13,000 and 20,000 refugees have lived within the camp itself and in the olive groves on the outskirts. UNHCR says it is demanding an overview of the situation and that the fire service has had problems with the evacuation.
– It’s chaotic. Until very recently, there were still flames. And there are strong winds on the island, so the fires can resume, says the representative, who does not want to be identified.
VG has visited the camp several times. These are some of the reports:
HOMELESS: Between 4000-7000 children live in Moria. Now they have lost their home.
Don’t control coronary heart disease
Humanitarian workers on the island that VG is in contact with are now wondering what will happen to all the refugees. What is the next step?
– Now we have to find a solution for all the thousands who do not have a place to live, who now roam the streets. This applies in particular to all children and other vulnerable people, emphasizes the UNHCR representative.
While much of the island’s local government is in quarantine after an outbreak of infection among politicians before the fire, the Athens government has laid off emergency personnel and declared a state of emergency for the next four months.
Authorities will work to find a temporary solution, but Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will not send the refugees to the mainland for fear of spreading the corona virus.
There is currently no control over the 35 infected detected in the Moria camp. They have probably mingled with the other thousand refugees who are now homeless on Lesbos.
The corona outbreak complicates both relocation to other parts of Greece and the relocation of unaccompanied minors to other European countries, such as Norway.
Background: Norway picks up 50 asylum seekers from Moria
It is unclear whether other refugee camps on Lesbos have the capacity to receive the homeless from Moria.
“The people of Moriah are trapped”
The psychologist Grigoris Kavarnos has been following the political debate over the Moria children for many years, as his patients become increasingly ill and more exhausted from life in limbo.
Now he’s bored. He fears that even the fact that the camp has caught fire will not give the refugees a new and better home.
Other European countries have waited five to six years to make a decision. I don’t expect them to find a solution, not now or later. The people of the Moria camp have been captured. There is no way forward or backward for them, she tells VG.
