Iraqi aid agencies overwhelmed as thousands flee Fallujah

Iraqi government-run camps are struggling to shelter people fleeing the Iraqi city of Fallujah as the military battled Islamic State militants in the embattled city’s northern districts.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, an international aid group, said more than 30,000 people have fled from Fallujah in the last three days, while more than 2,300 families left Fallujah in the last 24 hours. More than 62,000 civilians have evacuated Fallujah since the beginning of the Fallujah military operation, the aid group said.

Dozens of families are still believed to be in Fallujah, while more than 20,000 people are believed to have fled the city in the past two days alone, according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).

The Iraqi army said on Saturday it had gained control of Fallujah’s main hospital, a day after recapturing the government compound in the centre of the city, following a four-week U.S.-backed assault. Fighters belonging to ISIS still hold roughly 20% of the city and are entrenched on its northern districts.

Humanitarian agencies working on the outskirts of Fallujah, located 50km west of Baghdad, said they were struggling to cope with the heavy flow of displaced civilians fleeing the violence as the offensive continues.

Norwegian Refugee Council spokesman Karl Schembri said that thousands of displaced are sleeping out in the open, in warehouses, mosques, and schools.

“Hundreds of families who reached the displacement camps in Amariyat Al Fallujah, Habaniya Tourist City and Khaldiya were still waiting in the scorching heat to receive tents during the day. Many were visibly exhausted, pleading for help and to be registered,” he said.

The UN and the Iraqi government have set up camps for 60,000 displaced civilians in Anbar province, but have warned there is little capacity to absorb any more people.

New arrivals, many of whom have been trapped by fighting for weeks, reach relative safety to find overcrowded camps and settlements.

Another 60,000 are expected to leave over the next several days, according to the UNHCR. The agency estimates that up to 150,000 displaced people may soon be in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. 

"Thousands of families may also remain trapped in Fallujah," Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said on Saturday.

"These are estimates ... however, we remain very concerned about the safety and the wellbeing of the people still in Fallujah."

“We implore the Iraqi government to take charge of this humanitarian disaster unfolding on our watch. We need the Iraqi government to take a leading role in providing for the needs of the most vulnerable civilians who have endured months of trauma and terror.”

“Let us also remind the international donor community of its responsibility towards the Iraqi people, who have been failed time and again by all the wrong policies and interventions. They need to provide the funding necessary for this massive crisis now,” Norwegian Refugee Council Director in Iraq Nasr Muflahi said.

The exodus, which is likely to be many times larger if an assault on the northern Islamic State stronghold of Mosul goes ahead as planned later this year, has taken the government and humanitarian groups off guard.

With attention focused for months on Mosul, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in May that the army would prioritise Falluja, the first Iraqi city seized by the militants in early 2014.

He ordered measures on Saturday to help escapees and 10 new camps will soon go up, but the government does not even have a handle on the number of displaced people, many of whom are stranded out in the open or packed several families to a tent.