صراط عشق صراط عشق
SHAFAQNA- UNICEF warned on Friday that more than four million people, including one million refugees, are at immediate risk of losing access to safe water in Lebanon. With the rapidly escalating economic crisis, shortages of funding, fuel and supplies such as chlorine and spare parts, UNICEF estimates that most water pumping will gradually cease across the country in the next four to six weeks. If the public water supply system collapses, UNICEF estimates that water costs could skyrocket by 200 per cent a month when securing water from alternative or private water suppliers.
For far too many of Lebanon’s extremely vulnerable households, this cost will be too much to bear – as it represents 263 per cent of the monthly average income. More than 71 per cent of people fall within ‘highly critical’ and ‘critical’ levels of vulnerability. Nearly 1.7 million people have access to only 35 litres a day, a decrease of almost 80 per cent against the national average of 165 litres pre-2020, according to a UNICEF-supported assessment .
“Unless urgent action is taken, hospitals, schools and essential public facilities will be unable to function and over four million people will be forced to resort to unsafe and costly sources of water, putting children’s health and hygiene at risk”, said UNICEF Representative in Lebanon, Yukie Mokuo
