WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) Tuesday's explosion at Beirut's port destroyed homes for an estimated 300,000, including 80,000 children amid a shortage of medical supplies, hospital beds and the destruction of five or seven vaccine cold storage facilities, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported in a press release on Thursday.
"Children are likely to be among the casualties. Those who survived are traumatized and in shock," the release said. "Over 300,000 people lost their homes and are now displaced. UNICEF estimates that nearly 80,000 are children."
UNICEF staff in Lebanon is working with other aid groups to address immediate and medium term needs of affected children including drinking water, psychological support, reunification of children separated from families and establishing a cash transfer program for temporary housing, the release said.
The release also cited an "immediate" need for $4.4 million in the explosion's aftermath.
Officials said the explosion killed at least 157 people, a toll that is expected to rise as search and rescue operations searched for listed as missing in piles of rubble from collapsed buildings near the port. The blast injured an estimated 5,000 people.
