LEBANON / SYRIAN REFUGEES

Working to bring assistance quickly to Syrian refugees the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Northern Lebanon has gone from registering hundreds a day to thousands. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:37
• Production Date: 21 February 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: U130221c

Description

STORY: LEBANON / SYRIAN REFUGEES
TRT: 2.37
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 13 FEBRUARY 2013, NORTHERN LEBANON

Shotlist

1. Various shots, shelter near the sea
2. Wide shot, abandoned site
3. Wide shot, boy sitting
4. Various shots, Tin City
5. Close up, refugee woman drying the clothes
6. Wide shot, Fatima drying clothes with her daughter
7. Close up, Fatima’s face
8. Wide shot, Fatima entering her makeshift shelter
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima, Syrian Refugee (Arabic)
“They gave us wood to build with, they gave us food vouchers. They gave us blankets to keep us warm, but not enough, it's because we are a large family. Still, it's better than nothing”
10. Wide shot, General shot of shelter
11. Wide shot, elderly lady standing on the roof
12. Various shots, makeshift shelter in Tin City
13. Various shots, construction
14. Wide shot, refugee women gathering
15. Wide shot, Tin City
16. Wide shot, Lebanese local at the shore
17. Wide shot, refugee kids playing at the shore
18. Various shots, Samira in the kitchen, cooking
19. Wide shot, Samira´s children waiting outside
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samira, Syrian Refugee:
“The people here got me to this place because I needed shelter for me and my kids. They are paying for me for the next month or two but then I will have to leave and my kids and I will be on the street.”
21. Wide shot, Samira sitting outside of her shelter
22. Various shots, refugees standing
23. Close up, refugee girl watching the construction
24. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima Syrian Refugee:
“Yesterday we heard an Iraqi song about returning home and my child began to cry. There is nothing greater than one’s country.”
25. Close up, Fatima’s face
26. Wide shot, Fatima with her three children
27. Various shots, Syrian refugees´daily life in Tin City
28. Med shot, Syrian refugee boy standing

Storyline

The Syrian crisis has even reached these shores along Northern Lebanon, near Tripoli.

These flats with their air of abandonment have new residents, refugees.

So does this nearby shanty town of Harat Al Tanak or Tin City as it is known, almost all of the families here are Syrian refugees.

Every Syrian family has a story of the war raging in their homeland.

Six months ago, after a bomb killed her husband, Fatima came here.

Determined she built a hut with wooden beams and boards, some provided by UNHCR.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima, Syrian, refugee:
“They gave us wood to build with, they gave us food vouchers. They gave us blankets to keep us warm, but not enough, it's because we are a large family. Still, it's better than nothing”

There are no camps in Lebanon, so refugees have to find shelter wherever they can.

Here everything gets used, plastic, Tyres. On this day Fatima is getting an extension built.

More space for her family, but still far from ideal.

The overwhelming number of new arrivals -thousands a day in this region alone, means that there is a wait but staff has been added to speed up the process.

Last month UNCHR registered over 38,000 people, the highest number since the conflict began.

Samira is waiting for her registration. She fled Syria two weeks ago when her husband was killed.

All her savings went towards getting across the border.

Lebanese locals found them huddled on them on the beach in desperate need of help.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samira, Syrian Refugee:
“The people here got me to this place because I needed shelter for me and my kids. They are paying for me for the next month or two but then I will have to leave and my kids and I will be on the street.”

Those waiting to be registered are still able to get assistance.

Once registered, monthly assistance is given to everyone.

But the memories of what was lost is never far.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima Syrian Refugee:
“Yesterday we heard an Iraqi song about returning home and my child began to cry. There is nothing greater than one’s country.”

Working to bring assistance quickly UNHCR’s has gone from registering hundreds a day to thousands.

New registration centres are set to open all to bring to the growing number of refugees the help they so desperately need.