Meals for stricken Lebanese
| 10 August 2006
A total of 40,000 ready prepared meals left a food depot in Malton, North Yorkshire – the first of more than 200,000 meals headed for Lebanon.
The meals are being trucked and ferried across Europe to a Red Cross warehouse in Larnaca, Cyprus and then on to Lebanon to those most in need. | |
 | | | Robert Roots, Middle East expert at the British Red Cross, said: “The meals, which are halal certified, are a vital form of aid for tens of thousands of people caught up in the conflict as they require no cooking and heat up when water is added. The benefit of these is that they can be used by populations on the move and don’t need fuel to heat.” | |
| The meals, dispatched on 10 August, form part of a larger consignment with a further two trucks due to leave later this month.
In total, 120,000 meals will be trucked to Larnaca with each trip taking around six days and an order has just been placed with Westler Foods for a further 107,000 meals. The meals include three meat options and two vegetarian dishes.
An estimated 50,000 civilians are trapped in Tyre and as many as 35,000 people are in the villages dotted along Lebanon’s border with Israel. These are people who can’t leave; many are elderly or disabled and urgently require food, water and medical treatment.
Despite recent problems gaining access to these people, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is still managing to distribute aid.
“In recent days the Red Cross has had difficulties in gaining access to certain villages, but the situation is changing every day and we are continuing to send aid into the affected areas,” said Robert.
“The most important thing is that as and when we get access it’s vital that we have stocks in place, ready to be delivered as quickly as possible.”
Due to the urgency of the situation the British Red Cross has already paid £240,000 for the meals and transportation but is appealing for donations to help fund the initiative.
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