Appeal

Lebanon

LEBANON HUMANITARIAN CRISIS - MELB61 (Revision 1)

Appeal Target: US$ 8,026,328

Balance Requested from ACT Alliance: US$ 4,279,092

Geneva, 14 November 2006

On 12 July, Israel launched an offensive against Lebanon following the capture of two of its soldiers by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Israel attacked Hezbollah positions along the border with heavy artillery, tank fire and aerial assaults. For 34 days, the Israeli military operations targeted all regions of Lebanon focusing on the South of Lebanon and the Southern Suburbs of Beirut, a populous, popular and highly populated area. These regions were already considered in the Lebanese context as very poor.

According to the official figures there were 1,287 persons killed, 4,054 injured and 1,200,000 uprooted (25% of the total Lebanese population). 15,000 houses and apartment buildings were completely destroyed and thousands of shops and other constructions severely damaged or destroyed. Basic services such as roads, bridges, energy plants and water were also severely affected. The entire agriculture sector was affected as transport of goods became impossible, export has stopped and most foreign labor escaped because of the shelling. To this should be added the ecological disaster due to the shelling and leakage of around 15,000 tons of fuel oil to the Mediterranean Sea leaving fishermen jobless and without any source of income.

On 27 July 2006 an ACT preliminary appeal, comprising the ACT/Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), was issued to respond to this emergency, followed on 13 September 2006, by the complete ACT appeal comprising a revision of the MECC proposal, including food and non food aid and health, psychosocial and immediate economic recovery activities, as well as, in cooperation with the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), water and sanitation activities. The complete appeal also included the proposal of the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), to provide non food assistance, develop immediate economic recovery activities and rebuild schools and water systems. The present revision is being issued to include the proposal of Christian Aid (CAID), whose post crisis response aims at supporting communities through livelihood rehabilitation projects, with special focus on the most vulnerable groups, such as disabled, small farmers and small businesses.

This appeal replaces the two previous versions of the MELB61 appeal.

Project Completion Date:

CAID: October 2006 - October 2007

IOCC: October 2006 - March 2007

MECC/ICNDR: August 2006 - July 2007

MECC/ICNDR/NCA: August 2006 - January 2007

_________________________________________________________________________________

FOR THE FULL TEXT OF THE APPEAL (PDF FILE), KINDLY VISIT THE ACT SITE. THANK YOU. _________________________________________________________________________________

Please kindly send your contributions to either of the following ACT bank accounts:

US dollar

Account Number - 240-432629.60A

IBAN No: CH46 0024 0240 4326 2960A

Euro

Euro Bank Account Number - 240-432629.50Z

IBAN No: CH84 0024 0240 4326 2950Z

Account Name: ACT - Action by Churches Together

UBS AG

8, rue du Rhône

P.O. Box 2600

1211 Geneva 4, SWITZERLAND

Swift address: UBSW CHZH12A

Please also inform the Finance Officer Jessie Kgoroeadira (jkg@act-intl.org) and the Programme Assistant Geneviève Cyvoct (gcy@act-intl.org) of all pledges/contributions and transfers, including funds sent direct to the implementers, now that the Pledge Form is no longer attached to the Appeal.

We would appreciate being informed of any intent to submit applications for EU, USAID and/or other back donor funding and the subsequent results. We thank you in advance for your kind cooperation.

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ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.

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