Children play on a Gemmayzeh street in the aftermath of the Aug. 4 port explosion (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — A newly released report by UNICEF, the UN agency for children, based on a survey conducted in July with 1,187 households impacted by the explosion, found lingering effects on children’s wellbeing a year after the Beirut port blast.
Here are some of the findings:
• 97 percent of the families said their homes had needed repairs after the blast, with about half saying the work was still not done.
• Among families with children under 18, 20.5 percent were still living in temporary housing.
• About one-third of families with children reported their children were still showing signs of psychological distress, while 45.6 percent of the households said that adults were.
• 40.8 percent of households said their water supply system was affected by the explosions, and about a quarter of those families said this is still the case.
Yukie Mokuo, UNICEF’s Representative in Lebanon, called for the well-being of children to be a priority.
“Those families have been struggling to recover from the aftermath of the explosions at the worst possible time — in the middle of a devastating economic crisis and a major pandemic,” she said in a statement.