IOM has launched a relief operation to help vulnerable internally
displaced people in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley.

The assistance, funded by the Qatar Charity, will include some
5,000 blankets, 1,000 heaters, 2,000 lanterns and kitchen utensils
for 1,000 poor displaced families in the town of Baalbek and
surrounding villages.

"Although the snow hasn’t yet arrived, temperatures in the
Bekaa valley are already below zero at night and many needy
displaced families are living in damaged homes, sometimes without a
roof over their head," says IOM’s Rana Jaber, who is
coordinating the relief effort.

Some 3,000 homes were damaged and over 18,000 people affected by
Israel’s summer offensive in the Bekaa - once one of
Lebanon’s leading tourist destinations.

In an effort for help children from poor displaced families
return to school, IOM has also distributed school uniforms and gym
kits to some 1,700 children in 12 schools in the valley. A further
six hundred children will benefit from the programme by year
end.

 

IOM is also training local NGOs in project management, fundraising,
project monitoring and reporting, to improve their emergency
response capacity.

IOM and the Qatar Charity signed a cooperation agreement in July
2006. With development projects in more than 40 countries around
the world, the charity is the largest and oldest voluntary
organization in the Gulf.

For more information, please contact:

Rana Jaber

IOM Beirut

Tel +961 70 992 831

E-mail: "mailto:rjaber@iom.int">rjaber@iom.int