How to Build a Refugee Camp in the Middle of the Desert from Scratch

Via Policy Mic, this is a photo of Zatari refugee camp in Jordan, tweeted by CNN anchor Hala Gorani.

via Policy Mic, credit Hala Gorani twitter

There are 160,000 refugees at Zatari camp. It is full. But refugees are still streaming across Syrian borders from at a staggering rate of 6,000 per day. Most are heading to Jordan.

The international community is racing to keep up with the challenge. The UN and humanitarian partners are building now building a new camp for 130,000 new refugees. It is in the middle of the desert — in the middle of nowhere, really. (Refugee camps are often on marginal lands, because if the geography was any good, the place would already be settled.)

This rather amazing video, from UNICEF,  offers an inside view of the sheer logistic challenge of how to bring clean water and sanitation to 130,000 people in a place without roads, electricity or really much of anything.  It is a herculean effort.