Worsening Syrian Refugee Crisis In Lebanon

In the past weeks the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has reached one million. This huge number of refugees in Lebanon has really created a crisis in the country. The country of Lebanon  is "a country of 4.5 million that is seeing its resources strained by the new arrivals" (Surk). The border towns in Lebanon and the refugee camps set up there are all over crowded and people are suffering in them. One million refugees in Lebanon shows just how bad the conflict in Syria is, but also shows how catastrophic it is on the border countries. The conflict and crisis in Syria has caused a new crisis in its bordering country. These refugees have had social, environmental, and economical impacts on the country. "The World Bank estimates that the Syria crisis cost Lebanon $2.5 billion in lost economic activity in 2013 and threatens to push 170,000 Lebanese into poverty by the end of this year, the UNHCR said" (Surk). We have talked in class before about how refugee camps can cause crises of their own, and how they You can watch the video in the link below to see and learn more about the refugee crisis. 

Lebanon faces worsening Syrian refugee crisis | euronews, world news

As the UN issues appeals for more aid to go to help these refugees in the country, the idea of cooperation that we talked about last week comes in to play. There has been so much disagreement between countries on intervention in Syria that it raises the question of if there was more cooperation and something was done in Syria earlier would we have avoided this second disaster in Lebanon all together? With such strong opinions on both sides of the idea of intervention in Syria, cooperation seems unlikely, but it seems that negotiations and agreements need to be made in order to prevent further disasters as a result of the situation in Syria. Although in February Lebanon made a statement that it believes that military intervention may make the situation worse. So with such a complicated and multiple sided situation it seems that cooperation is needed not only to help syria, but now Lebanon as it is in desperate need for aid and intervention as it's own crisis worsens.



The worsening crisis in Lebanon causes a lot of concern, as it is greatly harming the whole country in many aspects, and setting the country up for further conflicts and worsening crises. It shows how important cooperation between countries in times of disasters is, to help stop the spreading of further disasters, and now cooperation is needed to help fund and distribute aid to the countries who are experiencing crises due to the original crisis in Syria.



Sources:

http://www.euronews.com/2014/04/03/lebanon-faces-worsening-syrian-refugee-crisis/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/million-syrian-refugees-lebanon_n_5083417.html