Flood relief for Lebanon
| Subject: International Cooperation
The AMB contributes in the reconstruction and flood prevention in northern Lebanon
A technical delegation from the AMB visited Lebanon at the end of April to witness firsthand the advances in the flood prevention project in the municipality of Haql el Azimeh. The intervention, conducted with the Lebanese Red Cross and the municipality, aims to mitigate the incidences and impact of flooding provoked by heavy rain in order to minimise its effect on people, goods and livelihoods.
Haql el Azimeh is a municipality in the Dennieh district (Tripoli region, northern Lebanon) with nearly 2,000 inhabitants, where 70% of the population mainly subsists on agriculture, including the Syrian refugees that live or work there. Last autumn, this area suffered severe floods that caused a great deal of damage to homes and infrastructures and destroyed half of the crops. In addition, the floods worsened when 3 dikes that channelled the watercourses collapsed, and which, in turn, caused the displacement of a large volume of rocks and other sediment, endangering the communities downstream.
Current reconstruction and future flood prevention
This intervention driven by the AMB includes constructing dikes to contain sudden overflows and reconstructing a canal system to drain the water and use it for irrigation. In this way, the population's capability to overcome flooding and natural disasters is strengthened. Beyond the direct impact on the municipality, this action also contributes to protecting the 3,000 inhabitants of four communities located downstream.
The intervention aims to prevent flooding, while also contributing to increasing the availability of irrigation water for crops thus improving the livelihoods of the population.
This is the ninth cooperative project in which the AMB has assisted in Lebanon since the institution vowed in 2015 to offer support to the refugee populations fleeing armed conflicts in the Mediterranean. Currently, Lebanon is the country that accepts the most refugees per capita, with 944.613 Syrian refugees (ACNUR, March 2019) added to a total population of nearly 6 million inhabitants.