Up to 200,000 Remain Displaced in Lebanon, Warns UN

Up to 200,000 people could still be displaced in Lebanon nearly three months after the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ended, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.

"We don't have the precise number of IDPs [internally displaced people] since there has been no formal registration, but we can estimate their number to 150,000 - 200,000," Stephane Jaquemet, UNHCR regional representative in Lebanon, told IRIN.

He added that the job had been made more difficult for relief workers and authorities to gain an exact figure on the number of displaced as many were still living with friends or relatives as opposed to staying in collective centres, reports Reuters.

UNHCR spokesman Simon Russel said many of the displaced had been unable to return because of unexploded ordnance littering the landscape and because of the lack of basic infrastructure, such as water and electricity, in some areas.

"Of course, we should take into consideration the fact that the UN would consider as an IDP any person who is still unable to return to his or her home, including those who stay with friends or relatives not far from their normal place of residence," Jaquemet said.

The main problem for the displaced was, he said, that many have now lost their source of income, particularly farmers in southern Lebanon where thousands of unexploded ordnance remain scattered across their fields.

Relief and reconstruction efforts are now focusing on the villages of southern Lebanon closest to the Israeli border which suffered the greatest damage from the war.

Basic emergency aid is still being delivered to these heavily damaged areas as many of the displaced live in cramped conditions with host families who are straining to provide for themselves, let alone an extra family.

The thousands of displaced are preparing to spend winter with their hosts as it remains impossible for them to leave until their houses are rebuilt.

The conflict in Lebanon forced nearly a million people to flee their homes, with some 180,000 crossing the border to Syria, according to the Lebanese government and UN agencies.

Immediately following a UN-brokered ceasefire on 14 August, thousands returned home to find their homes destroyed. According to UNHCR, an estimated 80,000 displaced people have returned to their hometowns, 46,000 of whom came back from Syria 48 hours after the ceasefire.