Lebanon humanitarian crisis

Balance Requested from ACT Alliance: US$ 4,279,092

On 12 July, Israel launched an offensive against Lebanon following the capture of two of its soldiers by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Israel attacked Hezbollah positions along the border with heavy artillery, tank fire and aerial assaults. For 34 days, the Israeli military operations targeted all regions of Lebanon focusing on the South of Lebanon and the Southern Suburbs of Beirut, a populous, popular and highly populated area. These regions were already considered in the Lebanese context as very poor.

According to the official figures there were 1,287 persons killed, 4,054 injured and 1,200,000 uprooted (25% of the total Lebanese population). 15,000 houses and apartment buildings were completely destroyed and thousands of shops and other constructions severely damaged or destroyed. Basic services such as roads, bridges, energy plants and water were also severely affected. The entire agriculture sector was affected as transport of goods became impossible, export has stopped and most foreign labor escaped because of the shelling. To this should be added the ecological disaster due to the shelling and leakage of around 15,000 tons of fuel oil to the Mediterranean Sea leaving fishermen jobless and without any source of income.

On 27 July 2006 an ACT preliminary appeal, comprising the ACT/Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), was issued to respond to this emergency, followed on 13 September 2006, by the complete ACT appeal comprising a revision of the MECC proposal, including food and non food aid and health, psychosocial and immediate economic recovery activities, as well as, in cooperation with the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), water and sanitation activities. The complete appeal also included the proposal of the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), to provide non food assistance, develop immediate economic recovery activities and rebuild schools and water systems. The present revision is being issued to include the proposal of Christian Aid (CAID), whose post crisis response aims at supporting communities through livelihood rehabilitation projects, with special focus on the most vulnerable groups, such as disabled, small farmers and small businesses.

This appeal replaces the two previous versions of the MELB61 appeal.

Project Completion Date:

CAID: October 2006 – October 2007
IOCC: October 2006 – March 2007
MECC/ICNDR: August 2006 – July 2007
MECC/ICNDR/NCA: August 2006 – January 2007

Reporting Schedule

Summary of Appeal Targets, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance Requested (US$)

Signed by:

John Nduna
Director, ACT Co-ordinating Office