Lebanon in a 'humanitarian crisis': The demand for aid and assistance is 'enormous'
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00:00Well, we can cross now live to Beirut to speak to Cyril Basel of the Humanitarian Agency
00:05Care International.
00:06Mr. Basel, thanks so much for your time.
00:09Perhaps we could start with getting an idea of what is the latest you're hearing about
00:13the situation in Beirut.
00:14We understand that there's been a number of bombardments once again to the south of the
00:19Lebanese capital.
00:21Yes, exactly.
00:23So last evening was a very scary night.
00:27I think all of us living in Beirut and across Lebanon got close to no sleep because of the
00:34sounds of the bombardments and because of the anxiety and the fear of any one of us
00:39losing their lives.
00:41And so it was a very difficult night.
00:43And as CARE, we're looking to continue to support the communities that we work with
00:49among our services, the psychological aid.
00:53And so we will continue to offer that because it is a huge need.
00:56Indeed, as you say, the ongoing stress of it and, you know, people being told to evacuate.
01:02But there isn't really anywhere to go, is there?
01:05The shelters are overcrowded.
01:07And so we have reached a point where there are more than one million people who have
01:12left their homes.
01:14There are more than 200,000 people in shelters.
01:17But at the same time, you can imagine that the 800,000 left are walking in the street,
01:23not knowing where to go, trying to find shelter.
01:26It has been raining for the last two days.
01:28And so people have been sleeping in the street under the rain.
01:31And when I say people, I mean children, pregnant women, the elderly, I mean, entire families
01:37just completely in despair.
01:40And when it comes to even the logistics, like clean water, electricity, food, where do you
01:46think stand?
01:49This is a huge escalation that has started since last Monday.
01:53And so CARE, for instance, has been taking its role with other international organization
01:58in close coordination with the government to distribute hot meals, to distribute hygiene
02:03kits and to distribute all sorts of basic needs.
02:06But the demand remains huge.
02:08And so we are in a humanitarian crisis.
02:11The demand is absolutely enormous.
02:14And so the more support we can get, the more people can mobilize, the better we can serve
02:19our communities.
02:20Now, you said up to a million people displaced.
02:22So is that a million people not being able to go to work, kids not being able to go to
02:26school?
02:27More or less, the figures are changing every other minute.
02:32For the worse, they are getting more dramatic.
02:34And so, as you said, the school year has started, but there are no kids in schools.
02:41Many people need to continue their lives, need to go to work with all those limitations.
02:46And a country that has been going through a multifaceted crisis for the last five years
02:51makes everyone more vulnerable at all levels.
02:54And I believe tens of thousands of people are actually getting out of Lebanon and crossing
02:58over the border into Syria, which isn't exactly a safe zone.
03:03I think these are times where people are looking for any solution that works for them.
03:09And CARE as a humanitarian organization, our focus is really to focus on working with the
03:15internally displaced people, making sure that we can mobilize as much support and close
03:21coordination with the other stakeholders.
03:23Now, we have seen the situation in Gaza get increasingly worse over the last year.
03:28What started there as a limited incursion by Israeli forces is still going on.
03:33Do you fear the same for Lebanon?
03:36In terms of Lebanon, I think we really commit to looking to the realities on the ground.
03:43As a humanitarian organization, our focus is always on neutrality.
03:48And so our focus is on the internally displaced people and helping the people in Lebanon.
03:53Because as you said earlier, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are leaving their
03:57houses overnight or in a split of a second in the Bekaa in South Lebanon or in the Beirut suburbs.
04:03You're looking for shelter.
04:05So our focus remains on working with them.
04:07OK.
04:08Cyril Basile, hoping you get some rest soon.
04:11But thanks indeed for your time.
04:13Cyril Basile of Care International, based in Beirut, explaining how little sleep people
04:17are currently getting due to those ongoing bombardments.