'We're doing more than the government': Volunteers scramble to help Karabakh refugees
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Transcript
00:00 "I can't go on like this. I'm tired. I'm tired."
00:07 In Goris, scenes of utter chaos. Local teens and adults are pulling their weight to provide
00:13 humanitarian aid to refugees fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh. Like in other towns of the region, displaced
00:20 families continue to arrive but there are not enough resources nor space to host them.
00:25 "We're doing more for these people than the government. No one's coming. We have police
00:32 officers standing around. These people are on their own. They're on their own. They've
00:39 lost their whole lives. They have bags. Their whole lives is in a bag. That's it. We just
00:43 have each other at this point."
00:44 The Red Cross has found a temporary solution for refugees left without a place to sleep
00:49 at night.
00:50 "These tents were built to help certain people who want to stay in Goris but they do not
00:57 have a place to stay."
01:04 Local authorities here are expecting the majority of the Nagorno-Karabakh population
01:08 to cross into Armenia if not in the coming days, in the coming hours. Humanitarian groups
01:13 working on the front are feeling more and more overwhelmed and the government doesn't
01:18 know how to handle the influx of refugees, meaning that the future of these displaced
01:24 Armenian families for the long term remains uncertain.
01:28 Many are housed in the town's hotels, arriving disorientated, still in shock, having abandoned
01:35 their home in a panic.
01:38 "People were pulling me out of my house. I was in bed, but not clothed, just in ripped
01:45 tights. They were pulling me out of the bed and I said, 'What do you want?' And they
01:52 said, 'No one is left in the village. Quickly, quickly, let's go.' They took me, put me on
01:59 a bus and now I'm here."
02:04 This lady came alone with her six children. Her husband returned to Stepanakert to help
02:10 evacuate the remaining population. She's left with no future and no prospects.
02:17 "All I needed was my homeland. If they could not do anything to protect it, then all of
02:22 this humanitarian aid is of no interest to me because I left everything behind. I don't
02:27 need any money, I need nothing."
02:31 After the exodus, many displaced Armenians are in mourning of their lost land.
02:38 land.