LESBOS, Greece — They’ve been sleeping on tombstones and on the side of the road, in parking lots and among dried weeds on the hillsides. They’ve pitched makeshift tents with bamboo poles and blankets. They’ve used the few clothes they have to make mattresses so their babies don’t sleep on tarmac. “We escaped from fire, but everything is black,” said Mujtaba Saber, sitting on a thin blanket spread on a street, next to his napping three-year-old son. The fires have intensified what was already a humanitarian disaster on the Aegean islands, where Europe warehouses tens of thousands of migrants in overcrowded camps with severe shortages of toilets, showers, medical care and even food.

Source: International New York Times September 13, 2020 21:42 UTC