CURATED BY KRISTIN KOWNACKY
With hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from the deadly violence in Syria, many find themselves refugees in the second largest camp in the world. Homeless with few professions, they come carrying stories of horror from a life turned upside down. Yet as more people continue to cross the Jordanian border, Al Zaatari may soon host the largest refuge camp in the world, with over two million people seeking solace.
FROM ALJAZEERA
Al-Zaatari refugee camp near Jordan’s northern border with Syria is the second largest refugee camp in the world. On days when violence in Syria worsens, between 2,000-4,000 Syrians flood into Zaatari, and the stories they tell are horrific.
“Things are happening in Syria that our minds couldn’t even imagine,” 65-year-old Nada Salim Abdullah, who has been in the camp four months, told Al Jazeera. “People were being captured and they were slaughtering them like chickens.”
Abdullah, who fled his home in Deraa with his family, spoke of atrocities committed by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Other refugees told Al Jazeera of atrocities carried out by opposition forces.
Nearly half a million Syrian refugees have crossed into Jordan since the conflict began, and according to Jordan’s interior ministry, the Zaatari camp is now the fifth largest population centre in the country.
If the trend of violence in Syria generating this number of refugees continues, Zaatari will become the largest refugee camp on Earth by the end of the year. Dadaab, near the Somali border in Kenya, is often referred to as currently being the largest, and is estimated to be hosting nearly 500,000 refugees…Continue Reading
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Kristin Kownacky is a junior at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, where she is currently working towards a BA in journalism and international studies. It is her dream to travel the world, discovering hidden treasures and writing about each experience. Read her articles on her personal blog, Depart We Now.
