The hostilities between Hezbollah forces and Israel left 1,189 Lebanese dead and 4,399 injured. Over 900,000 people were displaced and 30,000 housing units destroyed. The destruction and damage inflicted by the Israeli bombardment of towns and villages crippled the economic and social infrastructure of Lebanon, including roads and bridges, electricity power plants, water systems, sewage systems, health centres and schools. Within the first days of the crisis, the humanitarian community was able to mobilise significant logistic capacity to deliver relief goods to affected communities – with CERF contributing a grant of US$ 5,000,000. A total of 294 truck loads of food and non-food items were delivered by the UN between 12 July and 30 August including:

USD 2.5m from CERF moves urgent assistance in Lebanon [Photo: IRIN]

•  5,975 MT of food – wheat flour, oil, pasta, pulses, canned meat, rice and high energy biscuits;
• 1,847 MT of non-food items – mattresses, blankets, tents, hygiene items;
• Essential drugs and medical services provided for up to 1 million people including measles vaccine for 20,898 children under 15 years of age and polio vaccine for 8,345 children under 5 years;
• 1 million litres of potable water;
• 500,000 litres of bottled water.

Immediately following the ceasefire on 14 August 2006, people spontaneously returned to their homes en masse. Around 90% moved back into their original areas over a period of just four days. The relief operation swung from one supporting displaced people and reaching those in war affected areas, to assisting those returning - especially to the towns and villages that were badly damaged - and ensuring that their lives could be resumed safely.

Drawing on a CERF grant of US$ 1,000,000, WHO sent 10 Health Emergency Kits to affected areas – servicing a total population of 100,000 persons for a three month period.

The US$ 1,000,000 CERF grant provided to UNICEF was utilized for water, sanitation and hygiene interventions for IDPs who had fled the conflict and had taken shelter in school buildings and other community centres in and around Beirut during the first weeks of the crisis. The relief items ensured that families, especially women and children, had access to safe drinking water and were able to maintain personal hygiene, thereby preventing the spread of disease. The items procured and distributed using the CERF grant included:

• 34 metal stands for PVC water tanks;
• 34 sets of taps (4 per set) with accessories;
• 10 x 5,000 litre PVC water tanks;
• 10,000 baby hygiene kits;
• 40,000 adult hygiene kits;
• 100,000 collapsible water containers;
• 450 cartons of 33 mg water purification tablets (10,000 tablets per carton).

CERF provided US$ 2.5 million to the Special Operation for common logistics. This represents 12 per cent of the total contributions received as of now. Since the funds were received early, WFP was able to immediately respond to the logistics challenge of having to deliver food in a war environment.

The WFP Logistics Special Operation aimed at consolidating various UN humanitarian cargo imports, by road, sea and air of up to 12,000 MT per-month. In total, WFP contracted over 80 trucks and several ships and aircraft and set up storage facilities in Beirut and Tyre.

WFP immediately established a consolidation hub in Cyprus for sea and air movements and one in El-Aarida, from where all humanitarian supplies could be transported into Lebanon on UN-escorted convoys. For humanitarian cargo arriving by sea, a feeder vessel was chartered, which operated from Cyprus to the pre-determined ports of Beirut and Tyre.

On Wednesday 26 July, WFP organized the first UN convoy consisting of 10 trucks to the city of Tyre. The convoy carried 90 MT of WFP wheat flour and other essential relief items provided by UNICEF, WHO and UNWRA. During the period of continued hostilities, the logistics cluster focused on organising and dispatching food and non-food relief convoys to all affected areas, mainly in the South, but also in the Bekaa valley. Convoys were sent directly from the main logistics hub in Beirut to the destinations hosting war affected and internally displaced populations.

In addition to the convoys, WFP started on Friday 28 July a humanitarian cargo airlift using a dedicated Ilyushin-76 aircraft. The first airlift from the UN humanitarian depot in Brindisi delivered 20 temporary warehouses and five generators for WFP. The aircraft landed in the Syrian town of Latakkia, from where supplies were transported overland to El-Aarida.

WFP also chartered a high speed vessel that could take 300 passengers and allowed the UN and its partner NGOs to maintain a relatively large number of humanitarian personnel in the country.

The contribution of US$ 500,000 WFP received from CERF was the first to serve for ICT purposes. Equipment and personnel were deployed during the last week of July. The UN convoys and personnel movements were covered during the very early stage of the crisis by an emergency communication network that operated 24 hours per day.

The CERF grant enabled full coverage of the three hubs in Beirut, Tyre and Saida. Specifically, the following services were provided:

• 2 radio rooms are fully equipped and staffed for 24/7 operations (Beirut and Tyre);
• 1 staffed radio room has been fully equipped (Sidon);
• all radio room personnel have handheld VHF;
• all hubs have full repeater coverage;
• all common network services are fully MOSS compliant;
• all Radio Operators have received appropriate training;
• approximately 180 primarily UN staff members have been trained on radio usage and procedures.

[Last update: September 2006]

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