LEBANON / REFUGEE SETTLEMENT FIRE

Local community comes together after fire swept through tented Bekaa Valley settlement in Lebanon, killing eight young children from one extended family. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:08
• Production Date: 15 December 2017
• Asset Language: Arabic
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEE CAMPS; REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON
• MAMS Id: 2061283
• Parent Id: 2061283
• Alternate Title: unifeed171215i

Description

STORY: LEBANON / REFUGEE SETTLEMENT FIRE
TRT: 1:38
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTION: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 14 DECEMBER 2017, BEKAA, GHAZZE, LEBANON

Shotlist

1. Close up, phonescreen showing video of the fire is playing
2. Close up, a picture of Abdullah’s kids who died in the fire
3. Close up, Abdullah’s face watching the video on his phone
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdullah Hamade, Syrian Refugee:
“I tried to get in the fire, but the flames were intense and pushed me back.’’
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al Hashih, Syrian Refugee:
“I lost two kids, a girl and a boy. Fatima, four and Khalil, two.”
6. Various shots, Ibrahim sitting with a sibling looking at the pictures of his kids on his phone
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamad Majzoub, Ghazze Mayor:
“I was forty meters from the fire. It first broke out in one tent. We didn’t have a fire truck.”
8. Various shots, people of the informal settlement gathering under a tent
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al Hashih, Syrian Refugee:
“They opened their houses and held the funeral there for four days, provided food, drinks, clothes, and beds, the Lebanese and the Syrians.”
10. Wide shout, Imane al Majzoub and her Husband (neighbours of the tragic family) visiting refugees next to their home
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Imane Al-Majzoub, Lebanese neighbor:
“I cannot see a mother cry over the bodies of her own children and not do anything about it.”
12. Various shots, Ibrahim eating
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al Hashih, Syrian Refugee:
“People’s support made me stronger than before. It made me feel that there is still love and humanity in this world.”
14. Various shots, the truck that contains the wood for the reconstruction of the camp
15. Close up, the map that shows how to build the tent
16. Wide shot, worker bringing down from a truck a wooden board

Storyline

A deadly fire sweeping through a refugee settlement.

Thirty shelters turned to ash.

And killing eight children.

Abdulla lost Hala two years old, and Jacob four.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdullah Hamade, Syrian Refugee:
“I tried to get in the fire, but the flames were intense and pushed me back.’’

Ibrahim also lost his only 2 children.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al Hashih, Syrian Refugee:
“I lost two kids, a girl and a boy. Fatima, 4 and Khalil, 2.”

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamad Majzoub, Ghazze mayor:
“I was forty meters from the fire. It first broke out in one tent. We didn’t have a fire truck.”

Local Lebanese and refugees tried to help.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al Hashih, Syrian Refugee:
“They opened their houses and held the funeral there for four days, provided food, drinks, clothes, and beds, the Lebanese and the Syrians.”

A Lebanese neighbour hosted 12 women in her house.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Imane Al-Majzoub, Lebanese neighbor:
“I cannot see a mother cry over the bodies of her own children and not do anything about it.”

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al Hashih, Syrian Refugee:
“People’s support made me stronger than before. It made me feel that there is still love and humanity in this world.”

UNHCR is providing the families with new shelters.

But restrictions on materials means the shelters remain precarious.

UNHCR and Lebanon’s civil defence authorities are working together to help prevent future tragedies.