Emergency appeals seek urgent funds for Lebanon crisis
Melanie May | 3 October 2024 | News
Major charities including ActionAid, Action Against Hunger, British Red Cross, Islamic Relief and Oxfam have all launched or expanded fundraising appeals in the last week in response to the worsening situation in Lebanon.
Action Against Hunger has broadened its existing emergency appeal, which focused on Gaza and the West Bank, to encompass the growing humanitarian needs across the Middle East, and particularly in Lebanon. Already working in the country, since October 2023, its teams in Lebanon have distributed drinking water, hot meals, and blankets, as well as cash transfers to more than 7,500 people forced to leave their homes.
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Will Macleod, Fundraising and Communications Director at Action Against Hunger UK said:
“We are urging our supporters and the international community to act swiftly. The scale of this crisis is unprecedented, and the needs of those affected are immense.”
ActionAid UK’s emergency Lebanon Crisis Appeal launched this week with the charity saying that its fundraising efforts will help local partners address and scale up their response to the urgent needs of the hardest-hit communities.
British Red Cross is working in partnership with the Lebanese Red Cross and over the past twelve months, has directly supported its emergency medical services and blood transfusion services. The British Red Cross has now expanded its Gaza Crisis Appeal to include Lebanon, with donations helping to support the Lebanese Red Cross, which has deployed hundreds of ambulances and emergency medical volunteers there in the last fortnight, also distributing essentials and helping in search, rescue and evacuation.
Islamic Relief has launched a £10mn emergency appeal for Lebanon to expand its work providing aid to displaced families. Since last October the charity has delivered thousands of food parcels, hygiene kits, blankets and mattresses to families displaced by the escalating attacks, as well as thousands of medical items to hospitals and satellite clinics.
Speaking at the appeal’s launch, Akram Sadeq Ali, Islamic Relief’s Country Director in Lebanon, said:
“The past few days have seen the heaviest attacks on Lebanon in many years. The country has turned upside down and is in complete chaos, with more people fleeing their homes every hour and taking refuge in crowded schools.
“Today our team is delivering mattresses and blankets to new arrivals at some of the schools, and we will be providing displaced families with food and medical supplies for clinics. We’re exhausting all efforts to deliver aid to those affected by this crisis.”
Oxfam and its partners are supporting internally displaced people in shelters in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon with clean water and sanitation, emergency cash, food, and hygiene and menstrual hygiene kits. It is asking people to support through its Gaza and Lebanon emergency appeal – which has been expanded to include the country.
CARE International is prioritising water and medicine, as well as providing short-term shelter kits. It is also distributing baby kits with essential items for new and expectant mothers, and dignity kits for women and girls containing period products. Its appeal also covers Gaza.
UNICEF UK is asking people to donate to its Children of Lebanon Crisis Appeal to help children and families in crisis. It is supporting collective shelters hosting internally displaced people in South Lebanon, North Lebanon, Bekaa, Beirut and Mount Lebanon Governorates. It is also supplying essentials like water, blanket and winter kits, and hygiene and baby kits.
The Disasters Emergency Trust (DEC) has said that it is ‘closely monitoring the crisis as it develops, and assessing it against our criteria for launching a national fundraising appeal in the UK’. It has also said that it is ‘deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza’, and in both cases is directing people to appeals by DEC charities, including Action Against Hunger, ActionAid and British Red Cross.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.