Lebanon

The crisis in Syria is going from bad to worse. As the New York Times recently reported, the humanitarian needs for the nation’s citizens are staggering – and many are going unmet.

International humanitarian aid organization Action Against Hunger’s (ACF) teams of water-and-sanitation specialists are at work in the areas of Qana, Sadiquine, Kafra, and Yatar, just 10 kilometers from the Israeli border. They are working around the clock to deal with the complete lack of water derived from the destruction of crucial infrastructure during the war. The teams, along with ACF’s nutrition teams, have had to withdraw several times due to security incidents in the areas.

The bombs are falling less than a kilometer away. The Action Against Hunger (ACF) office in Beirut is in the Shiyeh neighborhood, a frequent target of Israeli attacks. On Sunday, August 13, at noon, a powerful blast shook the windows of the Aoun supermarket where Arantxa, the director, Seigmond, the logistician, and I were shopping for emergency. In war, uncertainty becomes an emergency, so we needed to be prepared. Five hundred meters from the supermarket entrance, we saw a column of thick, black smoke that cleared in the sun within a few minutes.

People are living in schools and warehouses in the absence of basic hygiene and sanitation conditions. Action Against Hunger continues to distribute drinking water and hygiene kits to 50,000 people in Sidon and will soon launch an emergency programme in the south of the country.