Some have nowhere to go in a country already devastated by economic crisis, a political impasse and the largest number of refugees per capita and per square mile in the world.
“Lebanon has experienced every crisis imaginable over the past two decades and this is another one of those that we have to get through. We are nothing if not resilient,” Fadi Bejan told OSV News.
Bejan, the country representative for Pro Terra Sancta, a Catholic organization that supports local communities and helps in humanitarian emergencies, spoke as the UN’s Security Council expressed “strong concern” Oct. 14 after Israel fired on and wounded UN peacekeepers in the south of the country.
“Whereas before the war our focus was on providing food and medication to those within a 10-kilometre radius of Beirut, we have had to cast our net wider. The priority for PTS is now on those who have fled their home whether they be from Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold (district of Beirut), or a border town in south Lebanon,” Bejan said.
Even before the recent crisis, it was estimated that more than half of the Lebanese population is living below the poverty line, “while a shocking nine out of 10 Syrian refugees require humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs,” said the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
Currently, 1.2 million internally displaced people add to the 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in the country and some 11,238 refugees of other nationalities.
“At times of hardship we come together regardless of our faith. Amidst all the chaos that’s what I cling onto — the goodness of people in unimaginable circumstances,” Bejan said.
Rima Abi Karam, project manager for humanitarian projects in Lebanon of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, agreed.
“The Lebanese people have so much dignity that they don’t want to ask for help.”
In her Beirut office, full of dry food and diapers ready to be dispersed, OSV News met Samer and his young family, who hail from the Beirut suburb of Dahieh. After the first night of heavy bombardment they moved to the north of the city to live with Samer’s disabled brother, Yousef.
“If it wasn’t for Yousef, already receiving support from them (Religious of Jesus and Mary) then Samer would have never reached out,” Abi Karam said.
Others have not been so fortunate, Samer explained, eyes still red from the sleepless nights.
“There is no place for some of our neighbours to seek shelter. They have no savings and work in Beirut so they cannot flee to Tripoli or Byblos,” Samer said.
The war itself is still in its infancy. Less than a month has passed since Israel launched its ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Regardless of which direction the war now takes, for the people of Lebanon much of the damage has already been done.
“(As many as) 1.2 million civilians have been displaced. You can’t reverse a number like that overnight,” Bejan said.
For representatives of Pro Terra Sancta and the Jesus and Mary congregation, attention is beginning to shift to the winter season.
“People aren’t going to return to their homes for at least another six months. It won’t just be about providing food and water but also obtaining fuel to heat shelters,” Bejan said. “That’s going to be extremely costly.”