Homeless at home

Not all the displaced Syrians live in run-down buildings. A first stop for many would be shelters run by local authorities, such as one in Tartous, a city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria It was originally meant to be an office building, but the local authorities turned it into a shelter when displaced families started pouring in. There are currently about 200 families here, but the number keeps changing. People come here as a first step and they leave as soon as they find somewhere else to stay. The shelter provides accommodation, education and primary health care, and the workers are mostly volunteers, many of whom are themselves displaced. The UN estimates the number of internally displaced people in Syria at more than 6.5 million, and Damascus houses the second largest number of IDPs after Aleppo in the north. The number of people inside Syria classified by the UN as "in need of assistance" is 13.5 million. Regime-held parts of the country, safe from air strikes and full of aid agencies, attract those Syrians who are not wanted by security services, and who can make their way safely to these areas. But many IDPs still live on edge. The front-lines are constantly shifting, and even in safer areas, economic pressure is on the rise.