Press release – 4 October
The international disaster relief charity ShelterBox has confirmed it’s responding to the crisis in Lebanon, funding items like mattresses, blankets, and hygiene kits.
More than one million people are directly affected or displaced by intense airstrikes across densely populated areas of the country. People have been instructed to leave and not return until further notice under Israeli evacuation orders.
Central Beirut and Palestinian refugee camps have been hit by airstrikes and a major border crossing between Lebanon and Syria has been cut off. People are fleeing with only what they can carry and do not have what they need to survive.
Local authorities are not equipped to cope with displacement on such a considerable scale. Buildings have been reduced to rubble and tens of thousands of people are crowding into communal shelters like schools. There are others sleeping out in the streets and on the beaches in Beirut, fearful of remaining in residential areas. People need clean drinking water, food, medicine, and shelter.
ShelterBox has launched an emergency fundraising appeal so it can provide critical aid to people left with nowhere to live in Lebanon, and other disasters around the world.
To provide immediate support, ShelterBox is partnering with a community aid organisation based in Lebanon to scale up its response supporting displaced people given its existing presence. Partnering in this way means thousands of people seeking shelter in schools and other communal buildings get appropriate support to improve their living conditions more quickly.
Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at ShelterBox, Haroon Altaf says: “We’re seeing a huge surge of displacement in Lebanon as people flee from intense airstrikes across the country. It follows months of displacement near the border of Lebanon and Israel.
“Whilst some people have found shelter with friends, family and neighbours, many others have been left, at least for now, without solutions. The number of people uprooted from their homes could rise substantially if the fighting does not end.
“Families face being displaced for months, or longer, and so emergency shelter is crucial especially as we head towards the winter months where temperatures can dip below freezing.”
Lebanon is home to six million people, including a large population of Syrian refugees and Palestinians. Many people fleeing its borders are refugees that had been seeking safety in Lebanon from war-torn Syria.
ShelterBox is continuing its work in Gaza, focusing on emergency shelter aid, and has a long-standing response in Syria.
The charity is continuing to explore ways it can support people unable to return to their homes and people that have crossed from Lebanon into opposition areas in Syria.
The charity is renewing its call for lasting peace. Anything short of this will not be enough to protect civilians, enable people to return home, or allow humanitarian aid to reach those who need it.
To find out more about the work of ShelterBox across the world, visit shelterbox.org.
ENDS
For more information contact the press office at ShelterBox via [email protected].
Notes to Editors
- Interviews available on request
- Image credit: Murat Sengul/Anadolu via Getty Images.
