When the crisis in the Central African Republic became acute this fall, thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands fled to area around the international airport in Bangui for relative safety. French and African Union Peacekeepers set up a base there, and many residents clearly felt that living out in the open under tarps and tents was safer than staying at home.
The UN’s Satellite imagery office, UNOSAT, just released this image which shows the scale of the IDP camp at the Bangui airport. There are now 232,000 IDPs in Bangui, most of whom are huddled around the airport.