A water truck arrives at a sprawling refugee camp in the northern countryside of Aleppo and receives a hero's welcome. Children run after it on the dirt road, eager for a taste of fresh clean water.
The camp in the village of Shimarian, near the Turkish border, is home to thousands of Syrians fleeing the violence that's divided their hometown Aleppo. They live in flimsy tents erected on barren land, with no access to clean water nearby.
One of those living there described the dire condition camp residents faced.
"Because we don't have it, we need water. The children travel 3 to 4 kilometers to get water, sometimes they find it other times they don't. If we need the toilet, we need to walk one kilometer, it's far from us. We can't find water to wash our children. We wash him in a basin. This is not a life. We're in need of everything," said Omar, who lives in the camp with his family.
According to the United Nations, two million people in Aleppo lack access to clean water and are at risk of disease.
Access is also needed to deliver food and medical supplies and for technicians to repair electricity networks that drive water pumping stations, which were heavily damaged in the attacks earlier in August.
"The water is not usable, it's far and it's full of diseases. It's not suitable for tea or for drinking. It's not usable. It caused diarrhoea in children. We have to take them to the hospital because of it. And it's so far. We need it to be available," pleaded Mahmoud al-Khaled.
Young children are especially vulnerable to diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases from drinking dirty water, as camp dwellers rely on water from wells which "are potentially contaminated by fecal matter and unsafe to drink," said Christophe Boulierac , the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) spokesman.
The U.N. estimates that 250,000-275,000 people are trapped in eastern Aleppo following the closure of Castello road in July, the last remaining access route to the opposition-held part of the city.
Russian and Syrian warplanes have intensified their air strikes on the rebel-held east of the city since insurgents made an advance last month, breaking an effective siege.
Fighting and air strikes in and around Aleppo have killed 448 civilians so far this month, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
REUTERS
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