One week after flames swept through the Moria migrant camp, thousands of people from Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa are still living alongside a stretch of road on the island of Lesbos. They sleep rough in makeshift shelters and have very limited access to food and water supplies. InfoMigrants reports.
It's been one week since blazes razed Europe's largest refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, and thousands of migrants remain stranded without proper shelter on a coastal road. The country's migration ministry on Tuesday said that only 800 out of nearly 13,000 migrants accepted to enter a new tent camp erected on a former military shooting range north of Mytilene, the island's capital. InfoMigrants visited the coastal road to see the conditions asylum seekers are facing.
1. Queueing for hours for food donation
A
large number of migrants head towards a food distribution spot. The beginning of a queue extends several hundred metres. One week
after the Moria blaze, food supplies are still limited. A few migrants with the
authorization to enter the nearby port of Mytilene can bring back spaghetti,
rice, and drinks bought in shops. Most must wait for hours under the hot sun to
get free food.
2. Bottle-feeding babies with limited water supplies
Zahra, an Afghan
woman bottle-feeds her baby. The two infants in this picture are aged 5 and 7
months. Bottle-feeding is especially complicated because migrants have
no easy access to clean water supplies. In a statement after the blaze, UNICEF
said there were more than 4,000 children in the Moria camp. A large number of
them are still living on the streets.
3., 4. Showering in the sea
Migrants
have no access to sanitation or showers. They go to a small beach behind the
road where they clean themselves in the sea. For children, it's also an opportunity to play and forget the tight coronavirus lockdown that prevented Moria migrants from leaving the old camp.
Azim
cleans his three-year old son Mustafa in the sea. The Afghan father of four
keeps a bottle of fresh water to rinse his son afterwards.
5. Fresh water from irrigation pipes
No
water taps have been made available to the thousands of migrants left homeless
by the blaze. Their main way to get fresh water is to puncture agricultural
pipes leading to olive groves above the road.
6. Overflowing garbage bins
Piles
of trash have been accumulating for a week. The road is blocked on both sides
by Greek riot police and it appears that no garbage trucks made it into the
informal camp.
7., 8. An open-air children's playground
Afghan
children play hopscotch in front of their parents' makeshift
shelters on a supermarket parking lot.
A little Afghan girl holds a Congolese
child in her arms. Most adults stay with people from their own community -- Afghans with Afghans, Africans with Africans, etc. -- but children from various
backgrounds can sometimes be seen playing together.
9., 10. Homeless and hungry in front of shelves packed with food
A group of migrants prepare to sleep in front of
a Lidl supermaket whose store shelves packed with food and drinks can clearly
be seen as the shop keeps its lights on.
Afghan migrants start a fire for their evening meal and tea.
11. Bamboo poles and blankets
One week after the blaze, there are still not enough tents
nor sleeping bags. Migrants sleep in makeshift tents they erected with bamboo
poles and blankets.