BY Ian Dunn | November 1 | 
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Syrian refugees: One of the worst modern humanitarian disasters
The flood of refugees fleeing from Syria is one of ‘the most urgent crises’ SCIAF has ever faced, according to the agency’s media officer, who was on the Syrian border last week.
Val Morgan, who was visiting projects supported by the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) that are saving lives in Jordan and Lebanon, said he had never seen such ‘a terrible situation’ than the Syrian refugee crisis, worsened by the escalation in the country’s civil war. He called it one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times.
“People are coming out of Syria completely destitute,” he said. “Everyone you speak to has lost someone in their family, has lost their home and seen terrible violence.”
With 4000 refugees coming across the border into Lebanon from Syria every day, and no formal camps, Mr Morgan said he has seen people forced to live in horrendous conditions.
“There was one family, which was staying with five other families, in a cow shed that was three metres by five metres and a sewage pipe was flushing human waste right into it,” he said. “Thanks to Caritas Lebanon they have now got alternative accommodation.”
Mr Morgan said he was hugely impressed by the work done by SCIAF’s partners, Caritas Lebanon and Caritas Syria.
“With SCIAF’s support they are doing an amazing job in truly appalling conditions,” he added.
Like the Caritas agencies, Mr Morgan also said he believes the populations of Lebanon and Jordan deserve huge credit for how they have responded to the crisis.
“It is hard to overstate how huge the numbers have been, over a million people have come into Lebanon, a country which only had a population of four million before,” he said.
A proportional influx to the United Kingdom would see 15 million refugees seeking shelter here.
“Jordan and Lebanon deserve a huge amount of credit for their compassion but any country’s infrastructure would struggle to cope with these numbers,” he said. “Their social services are being overwhelmed.
“ have never seen so many people who have lost so much. This is a situation that is not under control, that is not resolved.”
With the Syrian conflict approaching its third anniversary, Mr Morgan said the west must not forget about the suffering it is causing.
— To donate to SCIAF’s emergency Syria campaign visit www.sciaf.org.uk
—This story ran in full in the November 1 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes
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