News
Global
28 July 2006

Assessment in the South as Evacuation of Stranded Migrants Gets Into Full Swing

An IOM assessment team is expected to leave Beirut on Saturday
for southern Lebanon both to evaluate the needs of internally
displaced people (IDPs) and to collect as many stranded foreigners
as it can for evacuation.

The team is due to travel by bus to pick-up any of the stranded
migrants IOM has been made aware of in the south which it will
collect at certain points for evacuation.  

With its operation to evacuate stranded foreigners from mainly
developing countries from Lebanon now in full swing, the assessment
mission to the south will allow the Organization to begin focusing
more on the humanitarian needs of IDPs in the difficult to access
part of the country that is taking the brunt of the conflict.

There are an estimated 600,000 internally displaced people in
Lebanon and in an increasingly difficult situation in the south as
access to water and electricity is cut off. In a preliminary appeal
it launched last week, IOM asked for US$ 2 million to provide
humanitarian assistance to 10,000 IDPs as well as US$12 million to
provide evacuation assistance from Lebanon and Syria. The European
Commission and the US government have swiftly responded to the
latter appeal with 11 million euros and one million dollars
respectively, enabling IOM to rapidly scale up its operations.

Meanwhile, nearly 300 Sri Lankans are being evacuated today by
IOM to Syria. Initially they will be taken to a Caritas refurbished
transit centre in Tartous before being flown home tomorrow. An
additional 250 Filipinos and 150 Ethiopians will also be assisted
on Saturday. Their movement will bring to about 2,000 the number of
stranded migrants evacuated by IOM from Lebanon since last week
when it began to help those who were unable to flee the country.
Transported in land convoys, a similar number of people are due to
be assisted next week.

Those that have been assisted so far include Iraqis, Ethiopians,
Sudanese, Sri Lankans, Filipinos as well as 70 Ghanaians and 283
Bangladeshis evacuated yesterday from Lebanon. They will be flown
home tomorrow.

 

Bangladeshi and Sudanese IOM returnees will be provided immediate
assistance upon arrival home by the Qatar Charity following the
signing of a cooperation agreement between IOM and the
non-governmental organization last week. Involved in development
issues and currently working in more than 40 countries around the
world, the Qatar Charity is Gulf country’s largest and oldest
voluntary organization.

As the crisis continues, the number of people approaching IOM
for help is rising. An IOM helpline in Beirut established as a
point of contact for individuals is receiving dozens of calls on a
daily basis.  

For further information, please contact:

Jean Philippe Chauzy

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 22 717 9361

Mobile: + 41 79 285 4366

Email: "mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int

Jemini Pandya

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 22 717 9486

Mobile: + 41 79 217 3374

Email: "mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int  

For Arabic media, please contact:

Redouane Saadi

Tel: + 41 79 786 19 92

Related Information

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