2016-01


La Linière refugee camp Established in 2016

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This new humanitarian camp was relatively easy to build. The mayor's office allocated €400,000 to the project, Médecins Sans Frontières donated €2.7 million and its expertise, and a local volunteer organisation agreed to manage the camp on a permanent basis. The entire camp took less than two months to plan and was completed in about a week. The camp was built to UNHCR standards and at first glance looks much better than the old camps: neatly arranged wooden huts, male and female toilets every 200 metres, regular food donations and gravel to prevent flooding.

The camp is home to around 1,300 people, all from the former Camp Grande-Santé, and will be able to accommodate 2,500 when it is finished. The camp is divided into six areas. Families and children are housed in the first two areas, which are fully built and closest to the entrance, so people do not have to walk far to the distribution centre.

The huts were designed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and can be built in 45 minutes each. Each hut is six square metres in size and can accommodate four people (although some families have indicated that seven people share a hut). Each hut is printed with neon orange numbers and is fitted with a portable gas heater, electrical sockets and air vents.

There are two food distribution stations with trailers with toilets and showers, one trailer for blanket distribution and another for clothing and shoe distribution. Each hut receives a three-litre fuel canister per day.

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The building workshop Photo by Utopia56


Photo by Mehdi Chebil


Photo by Stephane Dubromel


A view of the camp and humanitarian workers. Photo by Nicolas Beaudoin


Extension of shelters. Photo by Hanne Vrebos


Construction of shelters next to the railway line. Photo by Denis Charlet