The World Health Organisation (WHO) is appealing for $15 million to cover emergency health needs in Lebanon following the Beirut port explosion that hit amid an economic crisis and rising coronavirus cases.
The blast, which killed 150 people and injured more than 5,000, also destroyed 17 containers holding WHO medical supplies including personal protective equipment, the agency’s regional office for the Middle East said in a statement late on Thursday.
Five hospitals in the area affected by Tuesday’s blast are either not functioning or partially functioning, and early reports indicate that many health centres and primary care facilities are also damaged or out of action, it said.
Up to 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes and need food or shelter, which “also risks accelerating the spread of COVID-19 and the outbreak of other diseases,” said Iman Shankiti, WHO Representative to Lebanon.
earlier Beirut: Prime minister Hassan Diab said in a short televised speech, has appealed to all countries and friends of Lebanon to extend help to the small nation, saying: “We are witnessing a real catastrophe.”
Diab’s speech came the morning after the blast killed at least 100 people and wounded thousands.
