IOM: 34,000 displaced Iraqis from Mosul

The number of Iraqis displaced from Mosul has reached 34,038 since the start of military operations to retake the city from Daesh on 17 October, Iraq Mission Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has revealed.

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Director General William Lacy Swing yesterday visited two emergency sites that are being established by the organisation in Iraq’s Qayyarah Airfield West and Hajj Ali, both in the governorate of Nineveh to assess the progress of the emergency sites, evaluate the situation on the ground and the organisation’s readiness to assist those who have been displaced.

Swing said the organisation has enough tents on the ground at Hajj Ali for 300 families.

“In less than two weeks we will have enough for 2,400 families, so with that progress I’m confident that we will be able to provide shelter for those displaced from Mosul,” he added.

According to Swing the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration has provided 100 tents and a Rub Hall at the Hajj Ali site.

“At the Qayara Airstrip site 600 IOM-procured tents are due to arrive today, and 600 more later this week; four IOM Rub Halls and an additional two World Food Programme Rub Halls have been constructed on site in preparation in order to store supplies,” he added.

IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Thomas Weiss, during his visit to the Qayyarah Airfield West, said: “This work has been done very quickly and efficiently. Last week there was nothing here and now we are ready to install tents.”

“As military operations in Mosul corridor continue, IOM is responding to resulting displacement through a range of emergency response services: non-food item kits, shelter, livelihoods assistance, primary health care, psychosocial assistance and displacement tracking,” he added.

Some 80 per cent of those recently displaced are from the district of Mosul.