UN building camps to serve displaced people in Iraq

More than 15,000 people fled Fallujah on June 15 and 16, bringing the total number of people displaced since May 23 to more than 68,000, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said here Friday, quoting the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

"Humanitarian workers are expecting the number to increase further and that thousands more people could still be on the move," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "Thousands of families may still be trapped in Fallujah."

"These are estimates, as the UN has no direct access to the city and is not able to directly verify the situation in the city," the spokesman said. "The UN remains very concerned about the safety and wellbeing of people still in Fallujah."

Many of the displaced people are reportedly arriving in poor condition and need all kinds of emergency assistance, notably water, food, shelter and medical care, he noted.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is rapidly building two new camps to relieve overcrowding while the Iraqi government has erected more than 2,350 tents in the last days and is expected to provide another 1,000 shortly. Enditem