Greece accused of failure to safeguard migrants after tents flood in controversial new Lesbos camp

Migrants dig around their tents after a rainstorm at Kara Tepe refugee camp

Credit: AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas

Tents in a new camp for displaced migrants have been completely flooded after heavy rainfall, prompting aid agencies to accuse the Greek government of failing to provide "basic dignity" for people who had to move from a previous camp that burned down.

8,000 people were relocated to Kara Tepe in September  in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the notoriously dangerous Moria camp.

The new floods leave migrants homeless for the second time in a month. Just four weeks after the fire, refugees in Kara Tepe told the Telegraph their tents had flooded and belongings were drenched, with some saying they feared that the worst was yet to come.

Having lost most of their belongings in the Moria fire, Kara Tepe residents are poorly prepared for the winter months ahead.

Children stand by the sea at the Kara Tepe refugee camp

Credit: AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas

Most fled Moria with just the clothes on their backs.

A young woman inside the camp who spoke on condition of anonymity had to momentarily evacuate her tent when a large puddle of stagnant water collected inside it, bringing in insects and a snake.

With no other place to go, the Afghan woman said she, along with her younger siblings and elderly parents, were forced to sleep on the wet, muddy floor. “We can do nothing,” she said.

A video shared by the young woman shows men, women and children in sandals trudging through deep mud and water and latrines toppled over by the force of the storm. Another young female Afghan refugee said most of the people she knew had become ill due to the prolonged rainfall.

Hastily assembled on a former military firing range, the camp’s proximity to the sea and its cold winter winds had already prompted criticism from aid workers  in September.

The tents are “completely unsuitable to protect [residents] from the coming winter. The situation is humiliating and completely unacceptablek,” the head of mission for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Stephan Oberreit said.

“MSF has repeatedly warned that the location of the new camp is totally exposed to the worsening weather conditions.”

According to the UNHCR, people in Kara Tepe have been forced to find their own solutions to the ongoing rains by digging water channels and trenches around their own tents.

“There are critical gaps in drainage, water, sanitation, hygiene and health services that need to be addressed without any delay,” UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo.

Notis Mitarachi, the Greek minister of Migration and Asylum, told reporters the problem was being "immediately addressed."