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SARPOL-E ZAHAB, Iran – More than a week since the fatal 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit the hard-to-reach mountainous areas of Kermanshah province in Iran, tens of thousands of Kurds cannot return home for fear of aftershocks, despite dire conditions at makeshift camps.
Layla Jawhar remembers running for her life the night the quake killed hundreds of people and forced tens of thousands from their homes.
She and her family survived when her husband took her and their baby daughter out of the house, an experience that left her in a state of shock for three days. Her fear now is whether her small family will survive the cold.
"People have lost their houses. They have nothing left. I was sleeping last night, feeling like I was going to freeze. We have no lamps, cooking utensils, or electricity," she said, speaking inside a small tent.
The camps have little or no basic services.
"We need hygiene and toilets because our place lacks sanitation. The place is polluted and because of that all of our children are sick. We just need sanitation and heaters. It is winter time and as you know it is going to rain," another displaced woman from Sarol-e Zahab told Rudaw. The town was the worst-hit by the quake.
"We need a place that can shelter us from the rain and cold, a place where our children will no longer feel fearful."
With many rumours floating about and no immediate reconstruction plans evident, it will take some time before these people can feel over the shock.
"As you can see, the village has been totally destroyed," Mehrdad Latifi, a young man said, standing next to rubble that was once his home.
Nobody died in his village, but about 15 villagers were injured, he said. But their homes are inhabitable.
"Some houses may still have their pillars standing, but that is only the pillars. Nobody can live in such houses. Experts from cities of Isfahan, Tehran have visited here and cautioned us against going back to such places, because there is a tremor every second," Latifi explained.
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