Higher Relief Commission Daily Situation Report

Sitrep No: 46 Date: 12/09/2006 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.

• British Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged help in rebuilding war-ravaged Lebanon during his first visit to Beirut. "I hope that out of what has been a tragic and terrible time we can rebuild in a way that is not just lasting peace here in Lebanon but lasting peace in the region, but where we see Lebanon once again for what it is and can be, which is a model for the whole of this region of democracy, of liberty and of prosperity," Mr. Blair said at a press conference with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Both Prime Ministers Mr. Blair and Mr. Siniora said that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the key to bringing stability to the region. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called for “a comprehensive, just and lasting peace ... to put an end to the injustice and suffering of our region." Mr. Blair, who also visited Israel and the Palestinian territories, added: "I believe it can be done, and I commit myself for the remainder of my time in office to do everything I can to bring that about." Mr. Blair said London had pledged more than 40 million pounds (US$75 million) to the rebuilding of Lebanon and promised support for the country's army, which remained on the sidelines during the conflict. He said the army had a "crucial role" and promised help to ensure that it was in control of all of Lebanon, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that brought an end to the conflict. "We will work with you in terms of training, in terms of equipment, in terms of any help that we can give and, as you know, I am committing further resources to that today," Mr. Blair said. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, along with Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, greeted Mr. Blair at the airport and they drove into Beirut in a 22-vehicle motorcade.

• Officials at the Higher Relief Committee (HRC) Monday rejected allegations of corruption and political favoritism leveled at the government's aid body as politically motivated and vowed to hold those who had in fact "abused their power" accountable. Mohammad Mamlouk, the HRC coordinator for foreign aid, said: "I believe that the attack against us and the government is a preemptive strike because at the end of the day there will be accountability. Those attacking us are trying to pull the rug out from under the HRC to hinder our work and prevent us from holding them accountable for their abuses of power." General Yehia Raad, head of the HRC, said: "Regarding our work with the NGOs, we thought it would be best to deal with organizations that already know the areas and can do house assessments. So we would provide charts of the names and numbers of people who were supposed to receive aid to those organizations, and they handed the aid out but in our name. Some of the families which were hosting internally displaced persons (IDPs) also received aid because they were affected by war one way or another. This is the whole story behind the aid which some IDPs families received." The government has been roundly criticized for not moving fast enough to provide aid to those affected by the war, a fact Mamlouk did not dispute. "Naturally there were miscues and trip ups, but that was for a short time and during the first week of events. Then we got on our feet and we are working hard. So far we have covered around 175 villages and towns around Lebanon," he said. "The problem would be that, as a governmental organization, we deal directly with governmental institutions and representatives, so we would be sending the aid to governors and qaimaqams who would in turn distribute it to municipalities and mayors, who would in turn give it out to people," he said. As for those who suffered damages during the war, General Raad said "they haven't started to receive their compensation checks from the HRC yet."

• An assessment carried out by the Lebanon Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization, shows that a quarter of the health facilities in Lebanon are not functioning due to physical damage, lack of staff or lack of accessibility, and that water and fuel shortages remain a serious concern. The findings are critical to determine priorities in the early recovery of Lebanon's health system. The assessment provides the basis for the Early Recovery Strategy for the Health Sector in Lebanon. It calls for USD 13.3 million for actions aimed at restoring access to critical health services for the 1.2 million people most affected by the conflict. The assessment finds that damage to buildings varies drastically from one place to another. In total, 26% of all health facilities are not functioning due to physical damage, lack of staff or lack of accessibility. The assessment highlighted a serious gap in maternal and child care services. Just one in four primary health care facilities are able to provide antenatal care, and just one in ten can support clean delivery and emergency obstetric care. One third is able to keep vaccines preserved, and just 13% only are able to provide some mental health services. Normally, all of these facilities should be able to provide all of these services. The immediate challenge to the health sector now is to meet the health needs of the people who were displaced, particularly those who have lost their homes or their livelihoods. In the medium term, it is crucial to re-establish and improve the health system in the areas most affected by the conflict, including ensuring enough qualified staff, WHO said.

• Lebanon is planning legal action against Israel for an oil slick caused by its bombing of a power station that has polluted large areas of the Lebanese coast. Lebanese Environment Minister Yacoub Sarraf said his government would seek damages under a statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The legal clause states that "an intentional attack with the certainty that this attack will create widespread environmental damage in the long-run can constitute a war crime". The Israeli military bombed Lebanon's southern Jiyeh power plant in mid-July during its 34-day offensive against Hizbullah fighters, unleashing thousands of tons of fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea. "The bombardment caused a lot of long-term damage because layers of oil settled on the sea bed" or drifted below the surface, minister Sarraf said in an interview. "The oil slick has affected the ecosystem of the Mediterranean, with Lebanese waters being a passage for migrating schools of fish, particularly tuna," he added. Mr. Sarraf said compensation would be requested from Israel on the basis of a decision taken at an international donor’s conference in Stockholm on August 31 that the Jewish state would be asked to compensate for the damage caused by the Jiyeh bombing. He estimated the cost of the cleaning operation alone at some 100 million dollars. Only 400 of the 15,000 tons of spilt fuel oil have so far been recovered, according Lebanon's environment ministry.

• President Vladimir Putin on Monday gave final orders for a battalion of Russian engineers and explosives experts to travel to Lebanon to help repair the damage inflicted by the war. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said an advance team would travel to Lebanon this week and the full group could be in place by month's end. It was unclear how many members the team would contain but Ivanov said they would include experts at disarming unexploded ordnance, as well as engineers to evaluate the damage inflicted on Lebanese roads and bridges. He said the team will work outside of the area where U.N.-authorized peacekeepers are operating.

• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the dispatch of a mission of experts to Lebanon to assess the possible damage caused to historical sites in the recent conflict. Among other locations, experts will visit UNESCO’s World Heritage sites of Tyre, Baalbek and Byblos. Culture Minister Tareq Mitri met with the delegation and discussed cooperation to rehabilitate Lebanon’s historic sites.

• Paris Mayor Mr. Bertrand Delanoe arrived in Beirut Sunday for a three days visit aimed at discussing ways cooperation France and Lebanon can cooperate on cultural, construction and health level. Culture Minister Mr. Tarek Mitri who met with Paris Mayor on Monday said, “The meeting focused on common activities between Lebanon and France. Beirut’s Mayor Mr. Abed Al-Minaam Ariss said on Sunday that the French mayor’s visit was aimed at signing cooperation accord between Beirut and Paris municipalities in the fields of construction, health and culture. “The two municipalities signed a twining accord between Beirut and Paris in 1993; the current visit will be a follow-up to that accord so we can re-activate it”. Ariss said. Mr. Dalaneo toured much of the destruction in Beirut, especially the port and the southern suburb.

• Volunteers at the Rafic Hariri Relief Center organized a session in collaboration with the Lebanese Civil Defense Department to form a skilled rescue team ready to deal with urgent situations. Fifty young people from the center participated in the session.

• Lebanese’s gross domestic product dropped by 40 percent, leading banks said. Bnque Audi, Sardar and Fransabank said in separate reports.

• UNICEF said that the delivery of bottled and tankered water (for drinking and hygiene proposes) is likely to remain a necessary element of UNICF’s assistance for at least another 1 to 2 months.

• Two influential American democratic Senators, Californian Dianne Feinstein and Patrick Lehay of Vermont, proposed a motion against the exportation of US-made cluster bombs in Congress. “The recent experience in Lebanon is only the latest example of the appalling human toll of injury and death. Strict rules of engagement are long overdue”, write the two Senators in a statement issued over the weekend. Feinstein and Lehay are part of a Senate sub-commission for defense funding. According to US press sources, there is wide criticism among American government officials over the way the US devices were used by Israel in Lebanon. Feinstein and Lehay, in a move to impede the exportation of the American devices – that based on international conventions should not be used in concentrated areas of civilians – with an amendment to the 2007 Defense budget called for the suspension of Pentagon funds for the exportation of cluster bombs unless the Pentagon can guarantee that they will not endanger civilians.

2- Casualties:

The Cumulative figures of casualties are showing hereinafter.

Estimated No. of Death: 1,189 Estimated No. of Injured: 4,399

3-Movement of Displaced Population:

The overall estimated figures of displaced population in Lebanon are shown here bellow.

Displaced Other Information

Schools 413 sheltered in 22 schools/institutions

Unallocated. (Estimated). 200,000 Sheltered with host families, friends, etc.

Neighboring Countries(Estimated) 15,000 Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, and Gulf area.

Total 215,413

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 daily distribution Cumulative distributed up to date. Food 0 571,465 Basket/Family/week. Food Basket/children/week 0 27,018 Blankets 0 141,925 Mattresses 0 142,482 Hot meal/family/day 0 583,988

Cleaning-detergent Kit 0 7,195 Tent 0 1390 Generator 0 191 Water tank 0 258 Kitchen Utensil 0 398 Kitchen equipments 0 300 Pillow 0 18,835 Bed sheet 0 8825

Food basket/family/5persons/week Children basket under 2 years Rice 3kg , sugar 2kg , tea 1/2kg , cheese 2kg, Children milk 3 small cans, cerelac 2 cans, 1 tuna cans 185g, meat 500g , spaghetti 3rolls , baby milk bottle , 1 biscuit box, pampers 1 peas 2kg , ghee 1kg oil 1.5L , jam 2kg , bag ,children powder 1 can , underwear 2 milk1.8kg sets, 2 pairs of socks, children soap 2 bars.

5- In kind donations. The followings In-kind donations were received by the higher relief commission. Date Description Unit QTY Donated by. 12/09/06 Food Ton 10 Lebanese national in Egypt.

6-Destruction/damages: The cumulative figures of Israel destructions in Lebanon are shown hereinafter (Preliminary figures). Description QTY Units

3 No Airports (including Rafik Hariri international airport)

Roads (445,000 M2) 137 Roads Fuel stations 25 No Bridges and overpasses 107 No

Private houses/ Apartments. (Destroyed) 30,000 No Private houses/ Apartment (Major damage). 30,000 No Private Houses/ Apartment (Minor Damage). 70,000 No Commercial sector (factories, markets, farms and medium size 900 No enterprises etc). No Small Size enterprises 2,800 No Government institution (Buildings) 66 No Schools (Destroyed/Damaged) 350 No Hospitals (Major damage). 2 No Health care buildings (destroyed). 12 No Health care building (severely damaged) 38 No Power plant 1 No Power generation stations 14 No Transformers 150 No Main Electrical power supply network 50 No Secondary power supply network 250 No Telecommunication main net work 44 No Telecommunication Sub net work 52 No Telecommunication tower 18 No Mobile transmission station 13 No Radio transmission station 2 No Main Water distribution net work 45 No Secondary water distribution net work 285 No Water purification Units 42 No Water Pumping stations 40 No Main water storage tanks 42 No Main fuel storage tank 3 No Water Chlorination Units 62 No Water dam 1 No Sea port 4 No Sewage treatment plant 1 No Main Sewage Disposal system 38 No Secondary sewage disposal system 120 No Radar 4 No Army brigade 4 No

7- Constraints: • Lack of food, medicines and non-food items needed to serve displaced/returnees population. The available quantities presents approximately 50% of the actual needed quantity. • Estimated total losses had reached 9.4 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. • Lack of machineries and manpower to remove the rubble. • Cluster bombs have contaminated 70% of land in the war affected areas.