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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>August 22, 2006</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><font size=3
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.lebanonwire.com/" title="http://www.lebanonwire.com/"></a></span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><img border=0 width=25
height=8 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.gif@01C6C5DB.8A355AE0"
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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><strong><b><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Lebanon</span></font></b></strong></st1:place></st1:country-region><strong><b><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>'s development
'annihilated': UN</span></font></b></strong> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'>GENEVA</span></font></st1:City><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'> - <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s 15-year economic and
social recovery from civil war was wiped out in the recent Israeli offensive
against Hezbollah, the UN development agency said Tuesday.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"The damage is such that the last 15 years of work on
reconstruction and rehabilitation, following the previous problems that <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>
experienced, are now annihilated," said Jean Fabre, a spokesman for the UN
Development Programme (UNDP).</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Lebanon</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>'s relatively healthy progress
towards the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which cover a range
of social and economic targets, "have been brought back to zero,"
he told journalists.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"Fifteen years of work have been wiped out in a
month."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Fabre estimated that overall economic losses for <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region> from the month-long conflict between <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> and
Hezbollah totalled "at least 15 billion dollars, if not more".</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Lebanese authorities estimated last week that direct
structural damage inflicted by the offensive reached 3.6 billion dollars,
including 15,000 housing units, 80 bridges and 94 roads destroyed or damaged.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>About 35,000 homes and businesses were destroyed in the
conflict, while a quarter of the country's road bridges or flyovers were
shattered, according to the UNDP's initial estimate.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Fabre underlined that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>, which had already added
to its debt with post-civil war reconstruction, would find it difficult to
foot the bill for even more investment.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"The debt of the country was so big already that the
capacity to repay it was already insufficent. Now it won't be able to do
that," he explained.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>UN agencies said it would take weeks to assess the full
extent of the damage in south <st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region>
and southern <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City>.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The most urgent issues are the need for clean water and
sanitation and to clear unexploded munitions, relief agencies said Tuesday.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Underground waterpipes and sewers were destroyed in 10 out
of 12 war-struck communities visited by the UN Children's Fund in recent
days, and a similar scale of damage was reported elsewhere.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"Everywhere we go... everybody is talking about water
and the need for it," said Paul Sherlock, a UNICEF water specialist.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>To stave off more immediate needs, 100,000 litres of
bottled water will be delivered every week to villages in southern <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> where
thousands of people have tried to return to their homes, the agency said.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Meanwhile, temporary water tanks will gradually be set up
in Nabatiyeh and villages along the Israeli border until water systems are
restored.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"There's a huge job to be done on the
infrastructure," Sherlock said.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"But access to water also runs into the problem with
unexploded ordnance, because you have to dig among the rubble to sort
pipework out, so it's a very dangerous game right now," he added.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>At least five Lebanese children were killed in recent days
when they picked up unexploded munitions, and more than a dozen have been
injured, UNICEF said.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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font-family:Arial'><img border=0 width=60 height=27 id="_x0000_i1027"
src="cid:image002.gif@01C6C5DB.8A355AE0" alt="afp.gif (1643 bytes)"><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray'>Copyright 2005 AFP</span></font></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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