A fragile ceasefire appears to be holding in the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah. More than a million displaced Lebanese are returning to towns and villages they deserted to escape the fighting.
Many will not have homes to return to. Throughout south Lebanon, the arduous task of reconstruction is beginning.
From the outset, MAP has been active on the ground, providing much needed emergency relief to families displaced by the conflict. Today, MAP is looking to the future, working with displaced people to find out how they want to see their communities rebuilt.
MAP's Emergency Response
Donation to the Lebanese Red Cross
As the result of Israel?s recent military assault on Lebanon, over one million people have been displaced and 15,000 wounded. The south of the country and the Chouf mountains have borne the brunt of this. In order to be able to offer some immediate humanitarian relief to these familes, MAP gave a grant of $50,000 to the Lebanese Red Cross.
As the local branch of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, this organisation has a national remit to provide relief and assistance in times of national disaster. Its trained volunteer staff of 2400 people and 42 ambulances enabled it to be the first organisation to respond to the widespread displacement and to offer relief goods to families seeking temporary shelter in schools, churches and mosques.
The funds provided by MAP have been used for the purchase and distribution of essential emergency provisions including food, clean water, medicines and shelter materials. These will directly benefit around 2000 displaced people in temporary shelters between Tyre and Nabatiye. Through such provisions, it is hoped that some measure of relief can be offered to those who continue to suffer as the result of the military campaign.
Provision of Water and Emergency Hygiene Kits
Israel?s recent military assault in Lebanon has not only led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people but has also inflicted severe damage on Lebanon?s civilian infrastructure. This has affected many people?s access to such basic necessities as clean water supplies and functioning sanitation systems, which has made people more vulnerable to infectious diseases.
Many Lebanese families have moved into the Palestinian refugee camps throughout the country for temporary shelter. In order to relieve the pressure in the camps on resources that were stretched before the conflict began, MAP has been working with Development and Relief without Borders to put together and distribute 1500 hygiene kits and provide water distributions to Bourj al-Barajneh (Beirut) and Ein al-Hilwa (Sidon) refugee camps.
These kits include essential items such as antiseptic soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, detergents, toilet paper, antiseptic cream and sanitary protection.
Distribution of Relief Packages
While UN Security Council resolutions may provide a framework in which military hostilities diminish, many of the hundred of thousands of people who were forced to leave their homes during the conflict may be unable to return to their homes and former livelihoods.
It is therefore likely that there will be many people who will remain dependent on relief for a considerable period after hostilities cease. As the first-step of its post-conflict strategy, MAP is currently undertaking a project in partnership with the Association du Development Rurale to distribute relief packages of food and non-food items. These will offer aid to 400 families in the Metn and Chouf regions who have been displaced from Tyre in the south of Lebanon, and who have lost their livelihoods in the process.
In the aftermath of the conflict, people?s resources are beginning to run out. Through this project, MAP aims to offer aid to some of those who are likely to be most severely affected by the conflict over the long-term.