LEBANON/ SYRIAN REFUGEES

World Food Programme scales up food aid to Syrian refugees inLebanonand neighbouring countries to cope with massive influx of refugees. WFP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:22
• Production Date: 7 June 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: NUTRITION; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: U130607g

Description

STORY: LEBANON / SYRIAN REFUGEES
TRT: 3.22
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 5 JUNE 2013, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Bekaa Valley in Lebanon
2. Wide shot, tractor
3. Wide shot, street in Qob Elias, Bekaa and Road sign
4. Close up, road sign showing the way to Syria
5. Tilt down, from municipality sign to Syrian refugees waiting at the municipality of Qob Elias
6. Close up, sign of the Qob Elias municipality
7. Wide shot, Syrian refugees entering the municipality
8. Close up, Syrian refugee waiting to register with the municipality
9. Close up, passport
10. Med shot, Mayor Fayyad Haydar, head of Qob Elias municipality talking to WFP staff
11. Wide shot, Haydar,walking
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fayyad Haydar, Mayor Qob Elias Municipality:
“The municipality is working at full capacity but the needs are putting immense pressure on us due to the increasing numbers of refugees. The municipality alone is not able to cope; it is almost impossible."
13. Med shot, Fayyad Haydar talking to Syrian refugees
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fayyad Haydar, Mayor Qob Elias Municipality:
"In our municipality, there are around 16,000 registered refugees. 40 percent of them live in houses and 60 percent in tents."
15. Wide shot, tented settlement for Syrian refugees in Qob Elias
16. Wide shot, children
17. Wide shot, woman washing clothes
18. Med shot, clothes hanging to dry
19. Wide shot shots, WFP and NGO Handicap International handing out food parcels and non-food items
20. Pan right, Syrian refugees waiting at the distribution site in Fa'our
21. Close up, Syrian refugee woman
22. Med shot, Iman, receiving WFP food parcels
23. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iman, Syrian Refugee Mother:
"I came from Al-Qusayr, went to Hesieh first then to Lebanon. I came with my neighbours. I told them, take me with you wherever you go. Here I am staying at my neighbours' house with my kids and now I am receiving food assistance."
24. Close up, boxes of food assistance
25. Close up, food
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Ingolfur Palsson, Head of WFP Sub-office in the Bekaa
"Every month we have 50,000 people crossing the border to Lebanon coming from Syria. And every month we are increasing our capacity to meet the needs of these people. For us, food is the highest priority for these people at the moment. We're able to cope, but it's getting more and more difficult."
27. Med shot, food distribution
28. Med shot, food voucher distribution
29. Close up, food voucher
30. Med shot, Amira, a Syrian refugee, using the WFP voucher to buy food from a local shop in Bar Elias
31. Close up, Amira redeeming the voucher at the counter
32. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) of Amira, 40 Year-old Widow:
"I came from Al-Qusayr. I fled with my children because of the shelling. Here we receive food vouchers that help us buy what we need. Life here is so difficult."
33. Wide shot, Bekaa street

Storyline

World Food Programme scales up food aid to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and neighbouring countries to cope with massive influx of refugees.

As the international community revises its estimates of the scale of the humanitarian needs with the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan launched Friday 7 June in Geneva, new figures show that the number of refugees in Lebanon has now reached half a million - in a country with a population of just over 4 million.

With the continuous fighting and the increase in needs, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) appealed today for more than one billion US dollars to feed up to 7 million Syrians from now and until the end of the year.

These include 4 million people inside Syria and 2.7 million people in neighbouring countries in urgent need of assistance, making this WFP's most challenging, complex and largest emergency worldwide.

In Lebanon, WFP anticipates there'll be more than twice as many Syrian refugees needing food aid by the end of the year. They've now announced they'll scale up aid to reach more than four times the 370,000 people they're helping now.

Most of the refugees are hosted in over 1,200 villages and towns across the country. They get food vouchers they can spend in local shops. But in some areas, like the Bekaa Valley, up to 20 percent of them are living in makeshift tent communities. There they receive food parcels while they wait to be registered.