Flour sacks turn into flood barriers: Gaza again faces winter without safe shelter

He races against time, working together with other young people to fill the sacks that once hosted the World Food Program (WFP) flour with sand to protect their temporary shelter from rain.

“These are sacks of flour that we use to pluck from the jaws of death so we can eat,” he said UN Newsreferring to the dangers of aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, where civilians have been killed while trying to get aid.

“Now it has become a sack that we fill with sand to retain rainwater,” he explained. “We get flooded every year and we put up these sacks in the hope that the rainwater won’t get inside.”

Two million people need better protection

About two million people in Gaza still need housing assistance, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The rains have started to fall and an intensifying El Niño will become even more threatening in the coming months.

Currently, agencies are working to get as much protection material into the Gaza Strip as possible before winter, said Karl Baker, IOM’s regional crisis coordinator for Gaza, from Amman, Jordan.

“We know that the rains have started to fall and the volume of goods we have to send to Gaza will not meet the population’s needs,” he said.

A funding shortfall that started to taper off in January has hampered preparations, Baker said.

“The funding only came in at the end of this year. Now it’s here, but it hasn’t reached the scale needed to support what we estimate is 1.8 to 1.9 million people who need housing assistance,” he said.

Shipping routes are disrupted

Ongoing regional conflicts are also disrupting supply chains. IOM relies on suppliers in countries including China, India and Pakistan, with goods routed through Jordan, Egypt and Israel before reaching Gaza.

“The other thing, of course, is that regional conflicts seem to be getting bigger. This is disrupting trade routes,” Baker said.

As long as global shipping is disrupted, it will delay the volume or time of goods reaching Gaza, he added.

A tent that lasts six months

Quality is another matter. In other emergencies, Baker said, IOM can provide more durable temporary shelter, such as plywood and assisted living units.

In Gaza, tents usually only last about six months. Because people are constantly being displaced, they are often destroyed or abandoned as families flee within a short period of time.

“The constant moving of tents or temporary structures, in my opinion, has led to a lack of quality from what currently exists in Gaza,” he said. “The quality needs to be improved with more durable items or more items, which currently helps with temporary solutions.”

An impossible choice

More than 4,000 buildings, many of which are home to thousands of residents, are reportedly at risk of collapse.

Briefing to the UN Security CouncilRamiz Alakbarov, acting Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the UN was working with local communities to evacuate people from unsafe buildings. With no other alternative, many had no choice but to seek shelter in tents.

Recalling a recent visit to Gaza, he described the impossible decisions families face: leave the homes they have returned to or live in buildings at risk of collapse.

Living space is also shrinking. Only about 30 percent of Gaza is now accessible to most people, said IOM’s Baker.

Based on humanitarian assessments, conditions in refugee camps continue to worsen, many of them are affected by flooding and there are few alternative places to go.

‘New experiment’

In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, many families salvaged materials from the rubble. Refugee from Rafah, Mohammed Barhoum and his sons used metal rods recovered from the rubble to try to strengthen their shelter.

It’s risky work amid the unstable debris and explosive remnants of war.

“Every year during the winter, this area is flooded due to heavy rainfall,” Barhoum said. “This year, we decided to strengthen our tents using metal rods. This is a new experiment, and we’ll see how it goes. We hope the situation will be better than before.”

Durable material blocked

Most of the durable shelter materials that IOM typically uses in emergencies fall under dual-use restrictions imposed by Israel since 2008.

These materials include roofing sheets, cement for floors, and stronger walls to withstand wind – materials that can make shelters more winter-proof, but are often considered a safety issue.

Mr Baker said IOM had been in repeated contact with Israeli authorities to negotiate their entry.

“This is a daily occurrence, five times a day, as we try to negotiate or try to make sure that we really understand their concerns and try to adjust whatever might happen,” he said.

“From our perspective, we have to continue to advocate for more durable items to come in.”