Lebanon, staggering after explosion, needs our help
Imagine if you suddenly became homeless in an instant. That is exactly what has happened to 300,000 people in Lebanon, following a massive explosion last Tuesday in the capital city, Beirut. Hundreds died in the blast and thousands have been injured.
The people of Lebanon need the help of the international community for the impact will be felt for many months to come. This tiny, impoverished Middle Eastern nation has endured much in recent years, taking in 1.5 million refugees from Syria’s civil war and dealing with the spread of the coronavirus. This latest disaster will collapse the poor nation unless we come to their aid.
The explosion happened at a Beirut Port warehouse containing a large quantity of ammonium nitrate. The blast and subsequent fires were widespread for kilometres, causing severe damage to numerous buildings including medical facilities.
Lebanon is now confronted with a major humanitarian disaster amid an economic collapse and health crisis. Beirut hospitals are overwhelmed treating the injured, as they had already been stretched to the limit coping with cases of COVID-19.
Jad Sakr, country director of Save the Children in Beirut, says “well over 100,000 children have seen their homes destroyed and lost everything they had.”
“The explosion could not have come at a worse time: during an economic collapse, just a day after a COVID-19 lockdown lifted in Beirut, and just before a new lockdown would have come into effect,” Sakr adds. “Many people used this window of opportunity to go running, or just socialize and hang out at the seaside and escape their worries, very close to where the explosion happened.”
Rescue teams have descended quickly upon Beirut to help the wounded and find those missing amid the debris. Children displaced in the chaos need to reunite with their families.
The UN World Food Program is also warning of a hunger crisis in Lebanon because of the explosion. An estimated 120,000 metric tons of food, including wheat, was lost in the blast. Food prices are expected to go even higher, leaving the impoverished in desperate circumstances.
WFP says: “As Lebanon imports nearly 85 per cent of its food, the severe damage to the Port of Beirut — the largest in the country — would push food prices beyond the reach of many.”
A recent WFP survey says 50 per cent of Lebanon’s citizens are worried they do not have enough food to eat.
WFP has a relief operation already underway in Lebanon that feeds the poor and also refugees from Syria. The UN food agency is immediately scaling up its mission providing food parcels to families affected by the explosion.
One of the key safety nets WFP provides there is school feeding for children, both Lebanese and Syrian refugees. With the pandemic ongoing WFP is providing take home rations to the students in the school meals program.
WFP is also running agriculture initiatives to restore livelihoods. All these programs will take on even more urgency. Medical supplies are also being flown in by WFP.
Funding will be crucial since WFP and other charities depend on voluntary donations. Relief agencies are stretched thin on resources, with famine threatening several countries during this global pandemic.
Lebanon was already reeling in poverty before this year began. The spread of the coronavirus within the country and the shutdown measures to contain it have worsened hunger and poverty.
Save the Children, prior to the explosion, had released a study revealing that “in the Greater Beirut area, 910,000 people, including 564,000 children, do not have enough money to buy the basic essentials, including sufficient food.”
Now this tragedy further plunges Lebanon into despair and hunger. If hunger escalates that will make it harder for the country to fight of the coronavirus.
There are many ways you can help by donating to charities that are operating in Lebanon, including Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, CARE, World Food Program and UNICEF.