Displaying items by tag: snow

Winter makes life in an improvised refugee camp even harder than it already is for asylum seekers - especially for the most vulnerable. Pregnant women, new-born babies, and the elderly, sleeping in tents without heating, are among hundreds exposed to worsening weather. Hours after a 24-year-old man from Cameroon was found dead at Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, an Oxfam report stated that hundreds of vulnerable people, including survivors of torture, ‘are being abandoned’ in substandard conditions. Oxfam said its concern is that there could be more deaths with the recent freezing weather and the poor preparations for winter in the camps. Every year conditions in and around the camps deteriorate further with the onset of winter because they are not equipped for cold temperatures, heavy rain or snowfall. Pray for those living in muddy bogs, burning anything they can find to keep warm to receive suitable accommodation, and medical support. See also

Brutal winter weather is battering Europe, with ‘significant and disruptive’ snow forecast to continue for up to two weeks. Snow trapped hundreds in Alpine regions, caused avalanches and flight delays, and worst of all hit dozens of refugees housed in tents in northern Greece as temperatures sank to -20C. There have been at least 13 deaths so far in Greece's islands. Poor visibility halted Norway’s attempts to find the bodies of four skiers presumed dead after a huge avalanche hit a valley. Romanian police found the frozen body of a 67-year-old man in a car park where temperatures were -24C. Austrian residents were housebound due to blocked roads, and some regions experienced power outages, closed schools, and buildings collapsing from snow-laden roofs. Many are bracing themselves for more snow, while others prepare for subsequent floods. See

Violent storms battered Italy, killing at least 11 people. Venice’s St Mark’s Square was inundated and the adjacent basilica had its baptistry totally flooded and its mosaic floors covered by 35 inches (89 cm) of water. ‘The basilica has aged twenty years in just one day, and perhaps I am being overly optimistic about that,’ said the church’s chief administrator. ‘It is becoming ever more difficult for us, and indeed could become impossible for us to repair the damage, especially in an age of climate change.’ Meanwhile, heavy snow in parts of Spain left two mountain hikers missing, and a tornado ravaged Menorca,leaving 38,000 people without power. See