GENEVA - U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is in Lebanon on a 4-day visit to view the impact of the explosion that devastated the city of Beirut two weeks ago and to lend support to Lebanese and refugee survivors alike.
Relative to its population size, Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees in the world.
The U.N. refugee agency has registered around 840,000 of the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees residing in the country. The agency says more than 200,000 of the refugees live in Beirut and surrounding areas.
UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch says High Commissioner Filippo Grandi will visit the most affected neighborhoods in the capital, then review the agency’s overall humanitarian response in other parts of the country. He says Grandi will meet and listen to the plight of all those affected by the blast.
FILE - Roughly 1.5 million Syrians live in Lebanon, which has the highest population of refugees per capita in the world and many live in informal camps, Dec. 3, 2019 in Bekkaa Valley, Lebanon. (Heather Murdock/VOA)
“Remember, the explosion did not leave anyone untouched with its large scale and the devastation that it brought. So, our priority is to stand in solidarity with Lebanese people who have been generous hosts for refugees, especially for Syrian refugees and other populations,” he said.
The UNHCR says 13 refugees were killed in the explosion, 57 are still missing and 224 are injured. Baloch tells VOA his agency needs $35 million to scale up humanitarian operations over the next three months. He says aid will include support to 25,000 vulnerable households or more than 84,000 people severely affected by the blast in Beirut.
“The economic crisis, COVID and now this explosion makes life very difficult for the Lebanese as well as for refugees," he said. "Our focus now is on emergency response providing people with shelter where it is needed but also try to make sure that those who need our immediate help even for day-to-day living, they receive that help as well.”
FILE - Makhoul Mohammad al-Hamad stands holding his six-year-old daughter Sama from their apartment as they watch diggers removing earth at the blast site next to the silos at the port of Beirut on Aug. 16, 2020.
Amid the concern for Syrian refugees, UNRWA, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, is appealing to the international community not to forget the needs of Palestinian refugees in the aftermath of the explosion.
UNRWA says some 200,000 Palestinians in 12 refugee camps, who were in dire straits before the explosion, are suffering from its impact and should be included in any emergency response.
Unfortunately, it notes the plight of Palestinian refugees often tends to be overlooked because of the magnitude of the Syrian crisis.