Refugees unprepared for rainy, cold winter in Western Balkans, Red Cross warns
15:27, 02/10/2015, FridayU: Update: 15:38, 02/10/2015, Friday
REUTERS
Vulnerable migrants and refugees arriving in the Western Balkans are facing the onset of heavy rains and cold weather, with many unprepared for bitter winter conditions, the Red Cross has warned
Sea crossings to Greece's shores have fallen this week because cooler, windier weather is making the journey more dangerous, though numbers could pick up again if conditions improve, the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
Average temperatures in winter months in the region frequently fall below freezing, posing health risks for people who have already travelled thousands of miles, often with limited access to food and basic necessities.
"The arrival of winter will push people's coping skills to their limits," Simon Missiri, acting director for Europe of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in a statement on Thursday.
In the last seven days, 25,000 people have arrived in Serbia, including families with small children, many sleeping outside despite heavy rain, the federation said.
More than half a million migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean this year, almost 400,000 of them via Greece. Many arrivals in Greece have then proceeded to travel through Macedonia and Serbia in an effort to reach western Europe.
Around 6,600 people arrived in Greece on Sept. 25 alone according to the UNHCR. The following day there were 2,200 arrivals, and just 1,500 arrived on Thursday, because of windy, cold weather.
With heavy rains falling on Serbia in the past week there is a risk of the humanitarian situation deteriorating, said Vesna Milenovic, head of the Red Cross in the country.
"We need more support to be prepared for winter. We are distributing raincoats and stocking winter relief supplies such as thermal foil blankets, thermoses, warm winter clothing and footwear," she said.
The Red Cross has launched emergency appeals to help 675,000 vulnerable migrants in Serbia, Macedonia, Hungary, Italy and Greece.
Since Hungary tightened its borders to block off routes to migrants, tens of thousands of people have also flowed into neighbouring Croatia.
The huge movement of people fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East and Africa to come to Europe via the Western Balkans is stirring memories of wars in the region during the 1990s, which also triggered a European refugee crisis.
UNHCR is planning for at least 1.4 million migrants and refugees to flee to Europe across the Mediterranean this year and next.