Thousands of children sleep outdoors in the Moria refugee camp

The smell of smoke attracts attention. Dirty roads lead from a small country road, up burned hills and into what has been called “the EU’s disgrace”, the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

At the entrance there is a burned stroller. Parts of a small training suit from a Swedish clothing chain lie on the ground. A bit far: the skeleton of a children’s bicycle. It is impossible to determine what color Tuesday was.

All traces of life have been erased. And it was fast.

The fire in Moria, which is believed to have started shortly after midnight Wednesday, took off from three major locations in the camp: the asylum office on Main Street, a centrally located care clinic, and a demarcated area where corona infections would be isolated. .

According to testimonies at the scene, the mood among those who tested positive for COVID-19 was agitated and worried overnight on Tuesday. But there is no official information yet on the cause of the fire.

During the spring, the corona pandemic has exacerbated an already difficult situation in Moria. The freedom of movement of migrants has been severely restricted and the education of children in many cases has been put on hold. Several activities have been canceled.

But no DN talks to have had the opportunity to stay away from others or have had access to better hygiene.

Hundreds of people have agreed on every bath and shower. However, the first reports of confirmed corona cases didn’t come until last week.

Five years ago, during the 2015 refugee crisis, Moria was built as a temporary shelter for just over 3,000 people. The boundary of where the camp begins and ends has moved almost daily. At the time of the fire, an estimated 13,000 refugees and migrants were in and around the area.

Videos posted online show flames rushing through dry grass, tree to tree, hut to hut. Blankets and mattresses give you new fuel.

Inside MoriaAlong what was the main street, there were hair salons and small water and fruit shops.

Now they are empty, empty. Only a few bottles of molten water, charcoal, and ash can be seen on the ground. In a barrack we found three charred rat corpses the size of a decimeter.

It is difficult to understand that the 13,000 people survived.

Two days after the fire, firefighters are still circulating in Moria. From time to time, they drop water bombs on new fires that take off.

An afghan man who does not want to say his name is the only one who moves in the central parts of the camp. You have searched for a broken water pipe and showers in the icy jets. He doesn’t want to be in the photo. Know that you are not actually allowed to be here.

But who can resist a long cold shower after months of heat and dirt?

He has a small piece of soap left when the police finally find out.

She checks his ID and holds it for so long that he has time to turn pale with anxiety.

– You have to go. This is not a safe place, say the police.

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– Do you know what you can do when you are hungry and have no food?

Bahar puts his hands on the sides of his bright pink shirt and folds his back forward.

– I like this! Then it hurts a little less.

But the stomach still rings, he says and tries to laugh a little.

Bahar Nazari is nine years old and can count to sixteen in English. He continues with the words he learned in Moria: dog, car, banana, apple, water. It lacks teaching. Camp is missing.

– Everything is gone. Boooom, she says. Her older brother interprets from Farsi into English.

Bahar Nazari has three sisters and three brothers, the youngest is two and a half years old. The family has fled for a year from Afghanistan, to Iran, to Turkey, across the Mediterranean to Greece. And in Moria.

He hardly remembers any other existence than the one in constant motion. But they had stayed in Moria for eleven months.

Now they are trapped in the street.

Behind them is the burned Moria, in front of them is a long line of riot police with tear gas and shields. They are not allowed to go out, not even to buy water or food.

The family learns that a local relief organization is delivering lunch boxes, peaches and water in Lidl, a few kilometers away. It doesn’t help.

They know what tear gas feels like.

Bahar Nazari is one of them all hundreds of children running back and forth down the street. There is everything here, from newborn babies to teenagers, most of them appear to be under seven years old. Many seem to find themselves in the situation. They play soccer or ball, make bouquets of dried grass flowers. Others are simply still. Collapse. Hungry. Several mothers say they asked the police about milk substitutes for their babies. They have gone without an answer.

– I try to breastfeed, but I have almost no milk, says Sidiqa Mohammadi, mother of a four-month-old baby.

The edges of the adjacent olive grove will be everyone’s bathroom. The more time passes, the more unbearable the stench becomes.

Nobody has toilet paper. Everybody has needs.

On a couple of occasions during the day, local volunteers are helped to overcome obstacles and can deliver a couple hundred lunch boxes and water.

Queuing with parents who have not fed their children for several days is difficult.

There will be fights immediately.

Åsa WidellSecretary General of Sweden at UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), qualifies the situation in Lesbos as a catastrophic situation.

The organization has started the deliveries of a total of 2,000 tents, blankets and kitchen kits that will be enough for 12,000 people.

– No one should have to sleep outside. UNHCR has mobilized large forces to help in the disaster, but the work is led by Greece, he says.

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What does the fire in Moria mean? for the people here?

Everyone we ask responds with a question:

– You know? What does the EU say?

To date, 407 unaccompanied minors have been evacuated to the mainland and Athens. According to the AFP news agency, ten member countries have agreed to receive them.

But no one has a direct answer to what happens to others.

Information circulating on Lesbos speaks of moving the more than 12,000 remaining refugees to two military installations. There is also speculation about ferries that could fill up and dock outside of Lesbos. Although the information is not confirmed, it has sparked protests among the locals.

In recent days, aggressive locals have blocked several roads from Moria to the capital Mytilini and other cities.

On Thursday night, they line up like a second wall, behind the riot police guarding the area where the refugees are.

The atmosphere is hot. When some volunteers try to reach the adjacent village, they are stopped and persecuted.

– Damn whores! yells a heavyset bald man, pointing road cones at their heads.

DN should not pass either.

An old woman with short red hair rumored that the police have sent her to protect Lesbos. Against what she doesn’t say.

They demand to see our passports. It forces us back.

Anyone who asks the police for help getting through shrugs.

– Not our problem, says a police officer.

During friday Several roads and large areas around the Moria refugees have been blocked. The atmosphere is tense. There are rumors of riot police and fascists from the mainland.

But refugees behind police shields fear the lack of food and water more.

– We have lost what little we had, we are sitting here amid horse poop and we have no roof over our heads. We have almost nothing left to lose, we just have to survive, says the mother of the four-month-old baby, Sidiqa Mohammadi.

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It is a mess in the street and under the olive trees.

The temperature drops rapidly When the sun disappears Those families who do not dare to sleep on dry grass, for fear of new fires, look for the asphalt that keeps the heat for a few more hours.

Some drunkards sweep through the family blankets. They want cigarettes, lighters and water.

Bahar Nazari’s brothers are already sleeping, together under a towel. They lie face up in the sky, seemingly untouched by the loud voices of men. Soon Bahar Nazari will also go to bed. He has no blanket, but a thin jacket.

Thousands of children try to fall asleep on the asphalt of the streets of Lesbos. As if it were 2015 again.