UNHCR Flash Update on Lebanon: Beirut Port Explosions, 19 October 2020
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Operational update
Shelter:
As winter approaches, the urgency of capacitating vulnerable households affected by the 4 August explosions to repair their homes continues to grow.
Between 8 and 19 October 641 households have received the USD 600 one-time cash grant, reaching 2,179 individuals; the programme targets a total of 11,500 vulnerable households with lightly or moderately damaged homes to allow them to undertake minor repairs.
The distribution point is in the center of Beirut, allowing beneficiaries to easily access their cash grant, and is organized in accordance with governmental guidelines on COVID-19 prevention. UNHCR staff is present during the distribution to quickly resolve any issues faced.
UNHCR’s minor repair and rehabilitation programme also started as planned. The detailed repair needs of 1,874 housing units have been determined, works have been finalized in 12 apartments and are underway in 155.
Other units are continuously identified and handed over to contractors.
UNHCR also launched a project with the American University of Beirut’s Urban Lab to establish neighbourhood profiles of the areas targeted for the shelter programme. These holistic profiles cover the populations living in the area, including the housing, social fabric, integration, demographic, infrastructure and services. The profiles will help inform the choices that UNHCR and other actors make in the short and the longer term, notably when rehabilitating community spaces affected by the explosions, and promote community inclusion, participation and accountability in the process. With a detailed understanding of neighbourhoods as complex systems, well-planned interventions from different actors will complement each other to promote inclusion, social cohesion and improve the lives of its inhabitants in mutually reinforcing ways while respecting unique identities.
Funding needs
UNHCR is focusing its response to the Beirut port explosions in the shelter and protection sectors. We plan to reach over 100,000 affected persons through all our interventions.