Mali: Situation critical for 107,000 IDPs amidst renewed fighting
Since renewed fighting and the securing of power by Islamist groups Ansar Dine and the Mouvement pour l’Unicité et le Jihad en Afrique de l’Ouest (MUJAO) over the Tuareg of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the situation of IDPs in the north remains critical.
With more people being forced to flee their homes, on-going instability in the region means that humanitarian access to the estimated 107,000 people already displaced in the north remains challenging. Both IDPs and their host communities are lacking basic necessities such as food, household items, health care and sanitation facilities. There are also concerns that the dire food situation will be worsened by swarms of desert locusts that are anticipated to destroy crops. Most health centres outside the towns are reportedly no longer operating and those in towns lack essential medicines.
Meanwhile in the South, there were 48,042 IDPs registered as of 11 July, 90 per cent of which were staying with host families. IDPs and host families in Bamako recently reported that their most urgent needs were food, essential household items and access to livelihoods and education. Health structures in the southern regions of Mopti and Ségou, home to nearly 33,000IDPs, are at risk of being overloaded by another influx of IDPs as a result of the instability in the North.
For more information see: IDMC’s page on Mali
Back to top
Syria: 1 million people displaced in Syria following beginning of Ramadan
Violence in Syria has escalated since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan last Friday.
Fighting has spread through Damascus and the country’s economic centre Aleppo, with international organisation witnessing new patterns of displacement prompting fears that an estimated 1 million people have been internally displaced . The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) reported that 1.5 million people were now homeless in Syria, and while food and medicine has been distributed to about 950,000 internally displaced persons, the food and shelter needs of these people is becoming a real concern.
Syria’s neighbours are straining to cope with the 250,000 refugees that have fled the country. The UN expressed its concern for the 5000,000 Palestinian refugees and the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis of which 13,000 have returned to an uncertain future in Iraq out of fear of violence in Syria since the beginning of 2012.
For more information see: IDMC’s page on Syria
Back to top
China: over a 1.2 million internally displaced by disasters since end June
In just under two months, over 1.2 million of people have been internally displaced due to earthquakes, floods and storms in China. Since 2008, China is recorded as being the country with the highest number of people displaced by disasters, with 4.5 million internally displaced in 2011 alone.
On June 24th a shallow, 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck Lijiang in Yunnan Province and Liangshan in Sichuan Province in southwest China affecting 71,000 people. Over 4,280 houseswere destroyed and 22,000 people were evacuated. Six days later, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, followed by several aftershocks. Government authorities in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture report 48,000 people were evacuated, 7,500 houses destroyed, and 64,000 houses damaged. Since then, widespread floods and storms have forced the evacuation of a further 1.17 million people and destroyed 66,000 homes in central, southern and southwestern provinces, as well as in Shaanxi Province and Inner Mongolia in the northwest.
Beijing is the latest areas to be severely affected by floods. As of 22 July, more than 65,000 people had to be evacuated and Beijing officials said 37 people had died, 25 of them from drowning. Some people have used the internet to protest against the lack of warning and poor drainage systems in the capital.
For further information see the IDMC website on displacement by natural disasters
Back to top
Japan: Heavy rains and landslide risk prevent hundreds from returning home
Some 400,000 people have been displaced by flooding and rain-triggered landslides on Kyushu island in southwest Japan. Though most have returned to their homes, hundreds remain unable to return due tothe elevated risk of land slides as heavy rains continue.
According to local officials, reconstruction has been repeatedly delayed by the continuing rain.
For further information see the IDMC website on displacement by natural disasters
Back to top
Bangladesh: Floods and landslides displace over 600,000 people
600,000 have been internally displaced due to extensive flooding, landslides and flash floods in southeast and northeast Bangladesh since late June. By early July, around 220,000 homeswere badly damaged or completely destroyed. While receding waters have allowed many to return, 15 districts remain flood-affected.
According to disaster management authorities, 167,801 families have been affected by the floods in Chittagong. The vulnerability of people in the Chittagong Hills Tracts is further increased by long standing displacement resulting from years of conflict including on-going clashes between indigenous groups and settlers. Information on the needs of these conflict IDPs is scarce.
For further information see the IDMC website on IDPs in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and on displacement by natural disasters