“We are more prepared than with Zaatari. But it won’t be easy at the beginning, that’s for sure.”
Here in the desert of Azraq, Jordan, the United Nations is completing Jordan's third and largest Syrian refugee camp. On Wednesday, the camp officially opens to a few hundred refugees; at full capacity, Azraq is set to hold 130,000 Syrians.
Courtesy of Jared Kohler for UNHCR
“We are more prepared than with Zaatari,” Aoife McDonnell of UNHCR Jordan told BuzzFeed, referring to the camp that was built in 2012 and is now bursting at capacity of 100,000 refugees. “But it won't be easy at the beginning, that's for sure.”
Courtesy of Jared Kohler for UNHCR
After three years of fighting, more than 590,000 Syrians have made the precarious trek to Jordan, according to U.N. figures. Another 2 million Syrians have fled to neighbors like Lebanon and Turkey, while more than 6.5 million are displaced within Syria.
An unknown number of Syrians have chosen not to register with UNHCR, making the number of Syrian refugees region-wide likely much higher.
Muhammad Hamed / Reuters
In 2012, UNHCR built the Zaatari camp in two weeks to meet the influx of Syrians; by Jan. 2013, 2,500–3,000 a day poured into Jordan. The camp was quickly overburdened, with many residents facing housing, healthcare, and food distribution problems.
Pool / Reuters
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