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An Unfinished Emergency Center - A Shelter for IDPs

Author: Aziz Karimov

An Unfinished Emergency Center - A Shelter for IDPs
Edition: Migration
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The photo story you are reading is part of the Chai Khana archive. From 2015 to 2025, Chai Khana covered the South Caucasus, sharing stories from Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

An unfinished building meant to be an Emergency Center in the Binagadi district, 9th microraion of Baku, is a shelter for IDPs from occupied Khodjaly, Agdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, and Kalbajar regions since 1995. Initially there were 4 families here; it is believed to be more than 300 now. In June 2013 some of these families moved to the new Masazir settlement.

 

A wider view of the Emergency Center. Although some of the families moved in 2013, many still live in this building.
The dormitory of the Emergency Center is in poor condition, so the inhabitants have repaired everything on their own. The stairs were made from scrap metal found lying around.
People dry their laundry in the dormitory.
Since there is no elevator in the building, older people can’t go out and have to dry their laundry inside the building. Most of the IDPs dry their laundry in front of their home.
There is no playground for children, thus they play in various spots around the building.
The man who lives here has written "Ağdam" on the wall to show which region he hails from.
Because the stairs do not have handrails, people had to make them.
The IDPs have built small rooms inside the building to make their life a little easier. Nevertheless, they still dry their laundry in front of their rooms.
Every year accidents happen in this building because of its poor condition. Arif has grown up in this building. He is accustomed to the dangerous situation in the building. Everyday he uses these stairs.
Murad and his friends have no playground, so they play their games in a various places around the building.
A living room of one of the families in this building. Conditions are extremely poor, but they do not have another place to go.
The living room of a family settled in an unfinished building.
The inhabitants throw their rubbish to the ground floor of the building. SInce there is no sanitation system, all the waste water flows underneath the building.

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