Sitting in a narrow corridor in the camp’s school, Aisha and her five children were among hundreds of newly displaced waiting to register their names in one of the numerous registration stations.
“Thanks to God we arrived safely. There is not enough water, food or electricity or even a tent for us but nothing matters anymore as we are safe and secure here,” she said while holding her two year-old son in her arms.
Aisha’s husband, Ahmad Ali, and their oldest son were separated from the family and placed with the thousands of newly arrived men who are being housed in the camp’s mosque.
“My husband comes every now and then to check on us,” she added. “It is too difficult to take care of five kids in this crowd, so he wants to make sure everyone is fine.”
The Debaga refugee camp, which has space only for around 4,500 people, was already overcrowded with more than 14,000 internally displaced who have sought sanctuary there since the coalition-backed Iraqi army launched the first stage of an operation to liberate Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and the current ISIS-stronghold in Iraq, from the terrorist group.
Backed by coalition airstrikes, the Iraqi army recaptured another three villages and fully liberated Haji Ali district on Saturday, allowing 3,000 more residents to flee their homes and the war zone.
Rizgar Ubaid, of the Barzani Charity Foundation, is the head of Debaga camp. He warned that an even larger number of people are expected to arrive in the next few days as Iraqi forces continue their offensive.
“More than 3,000 arrived in one day and many more are expected to arrive,” Ubaid said. He criticized Baghdad for not taking necessary steps for such an emergency time and said “we are facing so many problems and we are in shortage of almost everything while Baghdad has played zero role in supporting us with the waves of displaced people.”
According to camp officials, lack of space is the main problem facing the Kurdistan Regional Government, local and foreign humanitarian agencies, as well as the UNHCR who have been providing hundreds of tents to the camp.
“New tents will arrive soon for 600 to 700 families but certainly it is not enough,” Josef Merkx, UNHCR’s coordinator for the Kurdistan Region told Rudaw English.
“We discussed the issues with the Kurdistan Regional Government and Mayor of Makhmour to provide us land,” he said, adding that the process of sheltering such a large number of people in a short amount of time will be difficult.
Merkx added that UNHCR needs at least two months to build tents just for the people who have already arrived at the camp, not to mention the increasing needs of tents, food, medicine and water as thousands more flee daily.
“People are coming as we speak,” he said.
In addition to the basic necessities, there are things refugees desperately need but are not priorities for local officials and are difficult to obtain.
On Sunday, Sirwan Abdullah, from the QANDIL Swedish Humanitarian Aid Organization, was looking for commode chairs for several elderly refugees but he could not obtain them as food, water and registration were priorities.
Abdullah visits the camp on a daily basis. “There are days when we spend all our time monitoring the situation and reporting the problems and shortages and sometimes you never get the items or the necessary things when needed,” he explained.
Hundreds of women, men and children were sitting on dust and ashes in the camp’s streets, waiting to be registered before being relocated inside the camp or moved to nearby areas.
Debaga, a Kurdish town only 30 kilometres away from Erbil, had a population of 2,500 people prior to welcoming displaced Iraqis after ISIS militants took control of parts of the region.
