Sitrep No: 78
Date: 19/10/2006
Lebanon under siege http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb offers up-to-date information on relief efforts and diplomatic initiatives. The site lists locations of shelter and Aid distribution, along with a tally of damage, casualties and official statements. Significantly, the site is available in three languages. This site is the official Lebanese government source of information.
1-General situation.
· The Lebanese Army on Wednesday dismantled drainage pipes installed by the Israeli Army near Kfar Kila to divert rainwater into Lebanon. Troops from the Lebanese Army, in the presence of French and Spanish peacekeepers, removed the pipes and filled in ditches dug on Tuesday by Israeli troops after crossing the UN Blue Line in Adaisseh, near the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Meanwhile, an Italian admiral with the UNIFIL forces in the South, Claudio Confessore, said on Wednesday that his forces were "upset over the repeated violations by Israel" of Lebanese territory.
Israeli air violations continued on Wednesday with over-flights along Lebanon's shores and over the Southern areas of Al-Bayada, Rmeish, Aalma al-Shaab and Naqoura.
· With winter fast approaching, the United Nations and the Lebanese Army are racing to clear unexploded munitions left over from this summer's war with Israel before they sink even deeper into rain-soaked soil or are dislodged from their precarious nests in trees by storm winds. "We are working at our full capacity to finish as much of the clearance as possible before the weather gets really bad," said Dalya Farran, media and post-clearance officer for the UN Mine Action Coordination Center (UNMACC) in the South.
The UN estimates that 1 million deadly, tiny "bomblets" from cluster bombs spread by Israeli warplanes and artillery guns near the end of the July-August conflict litter the trees, gardens, homes and roads of South Lebanon. UN and army officials know the upcoming winter storms will only complicate their efforts and make the deadly munitions even harder to detect. "The main obstacle for the clearance operations is that we lack good reference information from the Israeli government on the locations they hit with clusters and the quantities," said Farran. As of Monday, she said, some 778 cluster-bomb "strike locations" had been identified by various teams working on the ground. "In heavy winter months like December and January the clearance operations will be reduced due to the bad weather," Farran said.
The UN mine unit estimates that 45,000 bomblets have been cleared to date. According to Farran, 150 Lebanese have been wounded by the bomblets and other items of unexploded ordinance (UXO) since the August 14 cease-fire. Twenty-one of the 150 have died from their wounds. Thirteen of the wounded were female and the rest male, the UN said, with 50 victims aged 18 or younger and 26 under the age of 12.
A report released last week by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that nearly 1,000 personnel were to be involved in clearance operations by the end of October. In the report, Colonel Mohammed Fehmi, director of the National De-mining Office, said that he hoped 95 percent of the "contaminated areas" in the South would be cleared of UXOs by 2008.
· Two months after the bombs stopped falling in the war with Israel, the port of Ouzai still stands as a grim testament to the carnage.Gutted boats lay strewn around the harbor, and piles of concrete are all that remain of cafeterias that once served the area's 500-plus fishermen.
The 34-day Israeli assault devastated Lebanon's fishing industry up and down the coast, but in this neighborhood of the capital's southern suburbs its impact was doubly severe: Here, the fishermen faced not only Israel's naval blockade and the damage caused by the Jiyyeh oil spill, but also direct bombardment by Israeli warplanes. Over 300 boats were damaged or destroyed by the raids, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), with fish markets and Fisheries Cooperative buildings reduced to rubble. Now, with the help of the UNDP and $1.9 million in aid from the United Arab Emirates, the harbor has finally begun to show signs of rebirth. In one of its first projects, implemented immediately after the August 14 cease-fire under the title of Recovery of Fishermen's Livelihoods, the UNDP spent $100,000 to replace the men's fishing nets. The money from the UAE, distributed to fishermen directly two weeks ago, has gone toward repairing damaged boats or buying new ones.
At a news conference in Ouzai Wednesday, the UNDP's Lebanon resident representative, Dr. Mona Hammam, said that the organization hopes to raise at least a million more for the project. "They need to recapitalize," Dr. Hammam said. "The fishermen have traditionally been among the poorest in Lebanon, and when you have an oil spill [and destruction] of this magnitude, it destroys their capacity to fish."
According to the UNDP, the damage has had significant multiplier effects in Lebanon's coastal communities, where many people's livelihoods are linked indirectly to the fishing industry, a separate UNDP-backed initiative to clean up the 15,000-ton oil spill will begin in two weeks, Dr Hammam concluded.
· The cleanup operation of the oil spill is ongoing in many spots; the Italian cost guard has completed the mapping of Jieh area, while a team from the Italian ministry of environment in coordination with Bahr Lubnan is extracting spilled oil from the coast of Jieh. The ministry of Environment has contracted PROMAR Company to extract the free floating oil around Fishermen’s wharf (Dalieh) and Rauche area in Beirut. USAID has signed an agreement with SEACOR Company with total value of $5 million to clean the stretch between Byblos and Anfeh. The Swiss Humanitarian aid is preparing a proposal to clean the polluted beaches along the coast of Byblos-Anfeh in addition to Palm Island protected area.
The Sites assessment is on going along the Lebanese coast and additional sites will be opened as soon as human resources and funds made available. Equipments and materials needed for the cleanup operation continue to arrive to Lebanon; the Governments of Kuwait, Norway Cyprus, Finland, France, Italy and Spain have dispatched In-kind donations of needed materials and equipment to the ministry of environment.
Total of 675 M3 of submerged oil has being removed up to date from different locations along the Lebanese coast; total of 15,000 tons of oil were spilled into the sea after Israeli war planes struck the Jieh power station, The spokeswoman of the ministry of environment, Ms. Ghada Mitri reported.
· While October rains have traditionally been considered an omen of a bountiful crop for farmers, the recent thunderstorms that have hit Lebanon have been nothing short of a nightmare for Southerners still reeling from the summer war with Israel. Countless homes in the South have seen their living rooms and bedrooms nearly instantly transformed into swimming pools after the past week's heavy rains. For many, the race against time to rebuild partially or completely destroyed homes that kicked off after the August 14 cease-fire has hit a fever pitch with the unforgiving onset of autumn.
International donors and the governmental bodies responsible for running the reconstruction process have divided those in need of assistance into three main categories.
1. The first groups those whose homes were completely destroyed during the month-long Israeli campaign and who were forced either to rent apartments or live with relatives in the interim period, as well as a small number of families who have pitched tents while they wait for pre-fabricated houses to be installed in their villages.
2. The second category consists of those who have already begun to rebuild their homes at their own expense, choosing not to wait for promised compensation from the government.
3. The final group comprises those whose homes were only partially damaged by the war, where families have gathered their undamaged furniture and moved into intact rooms.
The construction projects are under way at breakneck speed. An endless stream of trucks worked tirelessly to remove the rubble from many villages. The demand on construction workers has reached its peak, and they are nowhere to be found!" said Mohammad Srour from Aita al-Shaab, adding that he would soon be forced to patch the holes and cracks in his home himself.
· The Higher Relief Commission has distributed total of 104,000 food baskets on Tuesday and Wednesday in Matin, Alayeh, Kesroun, Jebeil, Akar, Koura, Batroun, Besheri, Zekarta, Balbaak, Hermel, Zahle, Nabatieh, Bent-jbeil, Mmarjoun, Hasbaya and Beirut. Total of 958,823 family food baskets have being distributed by the higher relief commission up to date.
· Around 500 Lebanese wounded by Israeli attacks during the war were evacuated to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to receive medical treatment. The wounded will be treated at Suleiman Faqih Hospital in Jeddah.
· The Beirut Port has begun upgrading its cargo-inspection system and plans to complete the installation of a new mobile X-ray scanner within three weeks, the director general of the Lebanese Customs Authority said Wednesday. Asaad Ghanem said the mobile X-ray scanner, purchased from China using an interest-free loan from the Council for Development and Reconstruction, will speed up the clearance of goods in and out of the country and limit smuggling. "This system will promote trade activity and reinforce the international confidence in the cargo being exported from Lebanon," he said. By allowing customs officials to identify the contents of shipping containers without opening them, the machine will limit the traffic of all illegal goods, including weapons and drugs, he added. "It can immediately detect the nature of goods, photograph them and record the images in a connected computer," Ghanem said.
The Lebanese Customs Authority expects to receive another X-ray machine from China by the end of the year.
· The Russian military will complete Ain-Arab Bridge within few days, the bridge with total length of 60M, 4.5 M width and 12 M height connect Marjeoun town with Argoup area.
· Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat met Wednesday with a delegation from the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Program for Civil Protection and Disaster Management. Following the meeting, the program's president, Mustafa Taj-Eddine, said the two-week visit was aimed at "reinforcing the Lebanese Civil Defense personnel in facing any kind of incidents ... It also aims at preparing a report evaluating the damage incurred by the Civil Defense during the recent war with Israel."
· Public Works and Transport Minister Mohammad Safadi convened a workshop on Wednesday as part of an agreement signed earlier this week between Lebanon and Iran to rebuild roads and bridges destroyed in South Lebanon during the recent Israeli assault. Separately, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in the Nabatieh Region of Kfar Roummane on Wednesday to mark the beginning of construction efforts in the area. Safadi said the reconstruction of war-ravaged regions "is at the core of the ministry's interests."
2-Casualties:
The Cumulative figures of casualties are showing hereinafter.
3-Displaced Population:
The overall estimated figures of displaced population in Lebanon are shown here bellow.
Displaced / Other InformationUnallocated (Estimated) / 200,000 / Sheltered with host families, friend etc.
4- Food and non-food items distributed by the higher relief commission.
The cumulative figures of distributed aids by the higher relief commission described herein after.
Description / Cumulative distributed up to date.Food Basket/Family/week. / 958,823
Food Basket/children/week / 26,019
Blankets / 134,210
Mattresses / 130,054
Hot meal/family/day / 583,988
Cleaning-detergent Kit
Tent
Generator
Water tank
Kitchen Utensil
Kitchen equipments
Pillow
Bed sheet
Mineral water (liter)
Fresh Milk (carton)
Powder milk (Kg)
Biscuit
Fresh Juice (Liter)
Flour (Kg) / 13247
1877
422
377
2252
500
2297
10838
98065
17787
6952
39234
5458
492389
5- In kind donations.
The followings In-kind donations were received by the higher relief commission.
Date / Description / Unit / QTY / Donated by.NA / NA / NA / NA / NA
6-Destruction/damages:
The cumulative figures of Israel destructions in Lebanon are shown hereinafter (Preliminary figures).
Description / QTY / UnitsAirports (including Rafik Hariri international airport) / 3 / No
Roads (445,000 M2) / 137 / Roads
Fuel stations / 25 / No
Bridges and overpasses / 92 / No
Private houses/ Apartments. (Destroyed)
Private houses/ Apartment (Major damage).
Private Houses/ Apartment (Minor Damage). / 30,000
30,000
70,000 / No
No
No
Commercial sector (factories, markets, farms and medium size enterprises etc).
Small Size enterprises
Government institution (Buildings)
Schools (Destroyed/Damaged)
Hospitals (Major damage).
Health care buildings (destroyed).
Health care building (severely damaged)
Power plant
Power generation stations
Transformers
Main Electrical power supply network
Secondary power supply network
Telecommunication main net work
Telecommunication Sub net work
Telecommunication tower
Mobile transmission station
Radio transmission station
Main Water distribution net work
Secondary water distribution net work
Water purification Units
Water Pumping stations
Main water storage tanks
Water Chlorination Units
Water dam
Main Fuel storage tank
Sea port
Sewage treatment plant
Main Sewage Disposal system
Secondary sewage disposal system
Radar
Army brigade / 900
2,800
66
350
2
12
38
1
14
150
50
250
44
52
18
13
2
45
285
42
40
42
62
1
3
4
1
38
120
4
4 / No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
3
No
No
No
No
No
No
7- Constraints:
· Estimated total losses had reached 10 billion USD up to date.
· Targeting factories has drastically stopped all kind of local production for food and non-food items.
· Unemployment rate has reached an approximate figure of 25%.
· Lack of safe drinking water and sewage disposal system in the war affected areas.
· Lack of electrical power supply in most of the towns and villages of south Lebanon.
· Cluster bombs have contaminated 70% of land in the war affected areas.