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A Year of Hardship in Yarmouk

30 January 2015

In 2014, Yarmouk became a byword for the profound suffering experienced by Palestine refugees and Syrian civilians as a result of the conflict. Approximately 18,000 civilians remain trapped inside the neighbourhood in inhumane conditions, deprived of food, water and medicine, with health clinics and schools closed, streets and buildings damaged, and access to the outside world largely cut off.

Yarmouk and its residents are in desperate need of support. In 2014, tenuous and unreliable access to the neighbourhood meant UNRWA was able to distribute only 32,503 food parcels over 131 days. This is equivalent to only 400 calories per resident per day, drastically short of the World Food Programme recommended daily amount of 2100 calories for civilians in crisis zones.

UNRWA remains deeply concerned about the situation in Yarmouk, which is further deteriorating due to a recent intensification of armed conflict in the area. The Agency strongly urges all concerned parties to ensure that conditions are in place to provide for the resumption of continuous, unhindered humanitarian access. 

In January 2014, when UNRWA was able to complete its first humanitarian distribution in Yarmouk after almost six months of siege, it was met by thousands of desperate residents on the destroyed main street. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoOngoing and indiscriminate shelling has reduced most of Yarmouk to rubble. Residents have had no reliable electricity supply since June 2013, when the mains supply was cut. Recent winter storms have deepened the profound suffering of residents, many of whom live without windows or doors. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoYarmouk was under siege from July 2013 to January 2014. Residents lived on what they could forage, including grass, leaves, and ‘meals’ of water and spices. This woman, who has lost 20kg, broke down during an UNRWA distribution on 24 February 2014. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoA Year of Hardship in YarmoukYarmouk residents now suffer from chronic malnutrition, dehydration and severe vitamin and protein deficiencies. With humanitarian aid, residents have two or more meals a day; without humanitarian aid they are reduced to one or less. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoHumanitarian access to Yarmouk during 2014 was sporadic and frequently interrupted. UNRWA needs to distribute at least 400 food parcels per day to meet the minimum needs of the Yarmouk population. As of 27 January 2015, UNRWA has been unable to complete a full distribution in Yarmouk since 6 December 2014. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoSince the first week of September 2014, the mains water supply to Yarmouk has been disrupted, apparently a result of damage to pipes in a contested area inside the neighbourhood. Civilian residents now rely on untreated groundwater and a single well. These water sources are unsafe and insufficient to meet minimum daily water and sanitation needs. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoLack of potable water increases the risk of water-borne diseases like typhoid and cholera. In August 2014, UNRWA was permitted to establish a temporary health point in response to a serious outbreak of typhoid. This health point has now treated 7,258 civilians, providing a critical lifeline to a population suffering the most extreme health risks. The UNRWA health point is only operational when staff and equipment are able access to Yarmouk and, as such, has been closed since early December. © 2014 UNRWA PhYarmouk residents have limited access to healthcare. Yarmouk’s main hospital has been damaged by shelling and is severely understaffed, with no medicine or medical supplies. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoYarmouk’s main hospital has no surgical equipment, no surgeons, and just one out-of-date ultrasound machine. Inadequate pre- and post-natal care, as well as malnutrition, puts mothers and new borns at high risk of complications. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoThe youth of Yarmouk must not be denied a future. In May 2014, ninth-grade boys boarded for a week at an UNRWA school in Alliance to take their national school exams. Upon completion, they returned to Yarmouk. © 2014 UNRWA PhotoYarmouk residents are experiencing profound suffering. UNRWA is alarmed and concerned by the grave deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Yarmouk and calls for immediate recourse to negotiations to facilitate entry of essential assistance. © 2014 UNRWA Photo

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