There are 6.2 million internally displaced people in the country, while more than 1.3 million have become refugees.
UNHCR said the city of Goma, the capital of the eastern DRC’s North Kivu province, hosts more than 560,000 displaced people in and around it. Despite the efforts of humanitarian actors, many people remain at comfortable roadside sites in dire conditions.
constant fear of attack
Elisabeth Tan, UNHCR’s director of international protection, recently returned from North Kivu, and told reporters about a woman she met who had five children:
“He had no food even for that day and so he sent his children out to collect firewood and earn some money. And his main concern was, Will his girls come back without facing an attack in the jungle,
The UNHCR warned that the lack of adequate sanitation and overcrowding are increasing the risk of outbreaks of cholera and measles, while people desperately try to survive.
emergency shelter
He said that in Buchagara, an official IDP site on the outskirts of Goma, where more than 15,500 displaced people, vulnerable individuals and families live, 3,000 are now being housed in emergency shelters with recently established community kitchens, which include water And sanitation facilities are up and running.
“Currently, emergency shelter only covers three per cent of the projected needs. Women and youth are particularly exposed to security risks, including gender-based violence”, he warned.
Adequate shelter is key to restoring personal safety and dignity Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR
He said IDPs appealed for more shelters and ways to make some income through agriculture or small business opportunities.
safety and dignity
,Adequate shelter is key to restoring personal safety and dignityMs. Tan said.
More than 180,000 have recently arrived in the Kalehe region, with thousands taking shelter in the town of Minowa, he said, a two-hour drive south of Goma.
“Local hosting communities have generously shared their limited resources With the displaced population so far, but they are under immense pressure.”
He said that the UNHCR had Shelter, site management and security enhanced Thanks for the responses, the generous support from the international community.
“However, the needs are huge. The DRC is one of the least humanitarian states globally. UNHCR needs $233 million to respond to the needs of displaced people in the DRC this year, but so far, only 15 percent of that amount has been received.
