'Children suffering the most'

2006-07-21 20:46

Alexander G Higgins

Geneva - The humanitarian situation in Lebanon is deteriorating rapidly as the country becomes more isolated because of damage to roads, bridges and other structures in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, said officials on Friday.

Because of the destruction and the danger of being hit, people have been afraid to go out and relief has been difficult to provide, said UN and other officials.

The availability of safe water, sanitation and hygiene is vital for people affected by the emergency, Unicef said.

The UN children's agency said a third of people killed and an estimated half of those displaced had been children.

Elisabeth Byrs, spokesperson for the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) said: "The exact situation and needs of about 500 000 people displaced or otherwise affected by the conflict was difficult to assess because humanitarian agencies were finding it difficult to move around the country."

Although supplies were stockpiled to be sent to Lebanon, moving them was delayed because roads and bridges were damaged or destroyed by Israeli air raids and shelling in the southern part of the country, said officials.

Supplies enough to care for 4 000

"Even when trucks and ambulances could, they risked being hit."

However, the ICRC on Friday made its first attempt since the fighting began last week to supply the coastal city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, sending a convoy carrying food, medical and other supplies by truck from Beirut.

The supplies were enough to care for 4 000 people, and the agency hoped they would arrive on Friday, said spokesperson Dorothea Krimitsas.

The UN refugee agency said it was trying to get guarantees of safe passage from the warring sides.

Chief spokesperson of the UN high commissioner for refugees said: "It is vital that there are safe corridors for humanitarian aid to reach those in need, but we have no guarantees yet of safe passage to the mountain regions," said Ron Redmond.

Redmond said a UNHCR emergency team was assembling in Damascus, Syria, preparing to go to Beirut to reinforce the agency's staff and check on the needs of "tens of thousands of displaced people who have fled to mountain valleys outside Beirut for safety".

Needs becoming critical

"The needs of these people, particularly those living in communal buildings such as schools, will become critical if they don't get assistance."

French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a news conference in Beirut that his country was dispatching urgent aid to Lebanon by air and sea.

The ICRC is also sending a war surgeon to assess medical needs at Tyre's Jabel Amel hospital, which has been caring for 85% of the wounded and sick in southern Lebanon, said Krimitsas.

That amount will be included in an overall UN appeal to be launched on Monday in New York.

"Overcrowding in school shelters and lack of access to safe water poses a threat of acute respiratory infections, waterborne diseases and the spread of contagious diseases such as measles," said Unicef.

Unicef's Wivina Belmonte said children were bearing the brunt of the hostilities.

"They make up one third of the fatalities so far," said Belmonte.

"Of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people, our estimates are that half of those are children."

- SAPA