Cite as: Wain, J.F., 2017, Shelter for refugees arriving in Greece, 2015-17. Forced Migration Review (55): 20-22.
From the introduction:Mass arrivals in Greece since 2015 have far exceeded the supply of acceptable shelter. The attempts to provide solutions continues. Over one million refugees and migrants undertook the perilous journey into Europe from early 2015. At the start of this emergency the enormous number of arrivals on the Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos overwhelmed local municipality accommodation capacity and their stocks of appropriate shelter solutions. The Greek government requested assistance with establishing ‘hotspots’ through which all new arrivals were required to pass for registration. In an ideal world, with registration systems adequately functioning, shelter space capacity maximised and regular ferries taking people off the islands, services should have been able to cope. However, the numbers were unmanageable...