Due to the fighting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, hundreds of thousands have fled their homes and sought refuge with friends and family in the surrounding villages.

Bartellah city is 20 kilometres north east of Mosul and an area inhabited mostly by Christian, Shabak, and Turkmen minorities.   Muhammad fled here from Al-Ta’mim neighborhood in Mosul nearly a month ago in the middle of the night: "The whole neighborhood was awoken.  Everyone got in his car at one at night - families, women with their children. In 10 minutes everyone was ready to leave "

Muhammad had a lorry so could take neighbours with him:  "People were helping each other. Many people came, even people we don’t know.  Everyone was afraid and children were crying."

Hazim Mal-Allah is the mukhtar (village chief), of Bajbithah ,12 kilometres from Mosul. The number of families in his village has swelled by 50% since the fighting to 450.  Hazim explains:  "Each house has received two or three families as we really felt for them.  There is no water.  There is very little electricity - only two hours every 24 hours."

The fighting has resulted in a shortage of water and electricity during Ramadan which with the near 50 degrees is compounding the difficulties people are facing .

Hazim says: “Most of the displaced people lost some family members who were killed. We are bearing the brunt of the lack of water and the heat. Twelve villages have no water. Not a drop of water. In addition, we have the displaced people here and we need to buy water. We pay 15,000 – 20,000 Iraqi dinars [US$13-17] for 1,000 litres.  It is a tragedy."

In some of the villages in Al-Hamadaniyah District in Ninawa, the population nearly doubled within a few days with people escaping the fighting. This has put pressure on basic services, some of which were already stretched.  With the help of the mukhtars from these villages hosting large numbers of displaced people , the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has identified those in need and so far provided food and other relief items to 760 Mosul displaced families in Bartellah and some surrounding villages.

Shotlist

Location: Bartellah, Vocational School, Al-Hamdaniyah District near Mosul.
Filming date: 9 July, 2014
Length: 3:00
Format: H264 Mov HD & SD
Production: Saleh Dabbakeh & Nicola Fell
Camera: Saleh Dabbakeh
Sound: English & Arabic
ICRC ref: AV196N 

Copyright: ICRC access all

0:00 Various of groups of people
0:13 Man carrying water

SOUNDBITE Muhammad, young man displaced from Al-Ta’mim neighborhood, Mosul (in Arabic)
0:18 "The whole neighborhood was awoken.  Everyone got in his car at one at night -  families, women with their children. In 10 minutes everyone was ready to leave "

0:28 a mukhtar writing

SOUNDBITE Muhammad, young man displaced from Al-Ta’mim neighborhood, Mosul (in Arabic)
0:34"I have a lorry, so I took my neighbors with me. People were helping each other. Many people came, even people we don’t know. Everyone was afraid and children were crying."

0:53 Mukhtars
1:02 People with ICRC boxes
1:08 Hazim and men

SOUNDBITE Hazim Mal-Allah, Mukhtar of Bajbithah village where there are 142 displaced families (852 individuals) (in Arabic)
1:17 "Each house has received two or three families as we really felt for them.  There is no water.  There is very little electricity - only two hours every 24 hours "

1:32 Various of stacks of food and people

SOUNDBITE Hazim Mal-Allah, Mukhtar of Bajbithah (in Arabic)
1:45 "Most of the displaced lost some family members who were killed. We are bearing the brunt for the lack of water, the difficulties and the heat, it’s also Ramadan
2:05 "Twelve villages have no water. Not a drop of water. In addition, we have the displaced people and we buy water. We pay 15,000 – 20,000 Iraqi dinars [US$ 13.00-17.00] for 1,000 litres. We get electricity for two hours out of 24 hours. It is a tragedy.//

2:33 Hazim on sacks
2:39 sacks on truck
2:43 water containers
3:00 END