IHA/1227
24 August 2006
Humanitarian Factsheet on Lebanon
NEW YORK, 23 August (UN Headquarters) -- The following has been prepared by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
-- 1,184 dead and 4,059 wounded (Lebanese Higher Relief Council (HRC)).
-- More than 150,000 Lebanese have returned from Syria (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)).
-- 90 per cent of those displaced by the conflict have now returned to their homes (Government of Lebanon).
Humanitarian Activities
Five Overland Humanitarian Convoys Today:
-- Beirut to Tyre -- United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) truck carrying water.
-- Beirut to Marjayoun -- 10 UNICEF/Première Urgence trucks.
-- Beirut to Deir Mimas -- 13 World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying wheat flour, canned meat, lentils and high-energy biscuits.
-- South Beirut -- three WFP trucks are delivering food.
-- Damascus to Beirut -- 10 UNHCR trucks expected to arrive today.
-- Ten UNHCR trucks have finished offloading supplies from the French ship, Cap Camarat, at Beirut port.
-- Two planes -- one Portuguese and one German -- arrived in Beirut from Amman carrying UNHCR goods.
-- The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) is providing a Map of Cluster Bomb Attack Sites and Passable Roads in Southern Lebanon.
-- UNHCR has begun an extensive returnee monitoring process in southern Lebanon.
Tyre Humanitarian Hub Update:
-- The need for water is increasingly a concern throughout the area, as is public health.
-- An assessment mission will travel today to Sidiqine, Qana, Yatarand and Beit Leif.
-- Non-governmental organizations are carrying out medical assessments in Aita Ech Chaab, Tyre, Naqoura, Sidiqine and Srifa and distributing medicines to hospitals and health facilities in Hasbaya, Marjayoun, Bint Jbeil and Tebnin.
Saida Humanitarian Hub Update:
-- In 39 villages of Bint Jbeil district, 50 to 90 per cent of Government and public buildings have been destroyed. Similar levels of destruction reported in 35 villages of Marjayoun district.
-- In Nabatiye district, assessments also reveal extensive damage: 50 per cent of structures destroyed in villages of Yohmor and Western Zawtar, while between 10 and 15 per cent of structures have been destroyed in others.
-- Most urgent needs are for water tanks and tankering, electrical generators, food assistance, kitchen kits and sanitation facilities, and removal of dead animals and spraying of contaminated areas.
Lebanon Flash Appeal
-- To date, just under $93.5 million committed to the $165 million Flash Appeal for Lebanon -- 57 per cent of requirements. Additional $4.7 million in pledges.
For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 9262; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570. OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int .
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