Humanitarian FACTSHEET on LEBANON

 

The following has been prepared by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):

-- Thirteen people have been killed and 46 injured due to unexploded ordnance in Lebanon, since the cessation of hostilities on 14 August.  Unexploded ordnance and other ammunitions continue to be the biggest threat to civilian life in Lebanon.

-- According to the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC), 90 per cent of all cluster-bomb strikes occurred within the last 72 hours of the conflict.

-- Up to 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets remain in southern Lebanon and must be defused and destroyed.

Humanitarian Activities

Overland Humanitarian Supply Movements Today:

-- Two World Food Programme (WFP) trucks with canned meat and vegetables from Beirut to Aalma el Chaab.

-- One WFP truck with canned meat, vegetables and wheat flour from Beirut to Mansouri.

-- Five trucks carrying bottled drinking water for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from Beirut to Aita Zott, Kounine, Yaroun, Srobbine, Qaouzah.

-- The French vessel Fast Challenger is due to arrive in Beirut with humanitarian supplies today.

-- On 28 and 29 August, Mercy Corps delivered 7,876 litres of bottled drinking water and food rations for more than 9,500 people in 12 villages in Nabatiyeh and Marjayoun districts.

-- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) convoys have been dispatched to 40 villages in and around Nabatiyeh and Tyre to deliver essential relief supplies such as blankets, mattresses, and cooking kits since 14 August.

Displacement

-- The final results of an inter-agency assessment in the Bekaa Valley reports that some 12,500 internally displaced persons remain in the city and surrounding villages.  Most are living in private houses and are in the process of returning to their homes in the south.

-- Some 35,000 Lebanese also remain displaced in Beirut according to estimates by the non-governmental organization Caritas.

-- UNHCR is coordinating with the Ministry of Social Affairs to monitor the situation of internally displaced persons in the Qmatieh and Kaifun areas of Aley and Chouf.

Lebanon Flash Appeal

-- Commitments to the Flash Appeal for Lebanon currently total just under $90 million, with an additional $10.8 million in pledges.  A revision to the Flash Appeal will be launched at the Stockholm Donor Conference tomorrow and is expected to total around $96.5 million.

For further information, please call:  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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For information media • not an official record