Armenia reported on Wednesday, September 27, that nearly half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents have left the region since Azerbaijan decisively ended the rebels’ long-standing struggle for an autonomous state just last week.

Armenia said Wednesday that nearly half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population has fled the enclave since Azerbaijan crushed the rebels’ decades-long fight for an independent state last week.

Yerevan’s attempts to absorb the sea of homeless and hungry ethnic Armenians come with officials still trying to identify the whereabouts of more than 100 people reported missing in a fuel depot blast Monday that claimed 68 lives.

The Armenian government said more than 50,000 refugees had entered since Azerbaijan lifted its nine-month blockade on the enclave on Sunday.

That represents nearly half of the region’s estimated 120,000 population and marks a fundamental shift in ethnic control of lands that had been disputed by mostly Christian Armenians and predominantly Muslim Azerbaijanis for the past century.

The Armenian government said it had prepared living arrangements for 40,000 families after last week’s fighting broke out.

But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokeswoman said late Tuesday that the government had so far been able to find housing for just 2,850 people.

The looming humanitarian crisis poses a political problem for Pashinyan.

The opposition agreed to end six days of anti-government protests on Tuesday to allow officials to focus on helping the displaced.

The opposition is also fractured and lacks a single figure who can challenge Pashinyan.

But analysts say the opposition is being spearheaded by Moscow and Nagorno-Karabakh supporters who have roots in the region.

The separatists reported the death of 213 people in the one-day fight and Azerbaijan put its toll at 192 soldiers and one civilian killed.

Moscow is now firing daily barbs at Pashinyan for his vow Sunday to pivot away from Armenia’s longstanding alliance with the Kremlin.

Pashinyan has blamed Russia for failing to avert the Azerbaijani offensive and called Armenia’s current foreign security alliances “ineffective” and “insufficient”.

But Moscow still has an important military base in Armenia and has indicated that it will try to keep Yerevan in its sphere of influence.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP