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'Israel destroyed 6 000 homes'
29/08/2006 22:51 - (SA)
Tyre - Six thousand homes were completely destroyed and 13 000 damaged by Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon, according to the head of Jihad al-Bina, Hezbollah's reconstruction organisation.
Adnan Samuri said a survey had been carried out of damage to 115 villages, where 250 volunteers - including dozens of engineers - were working to rebuild buildings destroyed by Israeli shelling and air strikes.
So far, 3 000 families whose homes were completely destroyed have been compensated by Hezbollah with enough money to rent alternative accommodation for a year and to buy furniture.
Another 3 000 families will be given money next week, he said.
"From next week, teams from Jihad al-Bina, accompanied by foremen, carpenters and stonemasons, will arrive in the villages to begin repair work" if the residents want them to, said Samuri.
"For those who want it and who have the means to pay, repair work can begin immediately, as long as they have a municipality certificate on the state of their property and they keep invoices for later reimbursement," he added. Don't want to wait
Talal Bazzi, an engineer surveying homes in the border town of Naqura, said many inhabitants whose homes were damaged did not want to wait before rebuilding their homes.
"Autumn is around the corner, and the families want a return to some kind of normality," said Bazzi.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said his Shi'ite party would compensate families whose homes were destroyed in the 34-day Israeli offensive on Lebanon.
He estimated at 15 000 the number of homes completely wrecked in south Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley.
When hostilities ceased on August 14, Hezbollah began distributing $12 000 to each family that had lost everything.
Before the conflict began on July 12 after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid from south Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut were home to 500 000 people.
- AFP
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