The Greek island of Kos is struggling to deal with an overwhelming rush of refugees and migrants arriving on its shores daily, making the short crossing from the Middle East to Europe by boat.
Many are fleeing instability and war in their home countries, but are met with bleak realities when they arrive on the Greek island of Kos, which currently has no formal processing center to provide for their most basic needs. Greece, in the midst of its own financial crisis, is ill-equipped to deal with the large numbers.
More than 125,000 migrants and refugees have reached the eastern Aegean Islands this year, a 750% increase over the same time period in 2014. The majority of these people are Syrian refugees, fleeing the ongoing bloody civil war that has left their home country in shambles, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR.
For months, UNHCR has warned that the crisis on the Greek islands would only get worse, and now it appears it is reaching its breaking point, particularly on the island of Kos. On Tuesday, clashes broke out between migrants and police as the local authorities forced people to line up for hours in the blazing heat to be registered at a local stadium.
On Wednesday, an aid group working on the island reported that more than 1,000 people were locked in the stadium overnight without access to food, water or toilets.
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