International Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has announced an emergency 250,000 euro food aid package for victims of the massive August 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.

The ACN grant will focus on poor families most affected by the explosion, which devastated the port area of the Lebanese capital and adjacent areas, including the mostly Christian neighborhoods of Mar Maroun and Achrafieh.

Fr. Samer Nassif, a Lebanese priest, told Aid to the Church in Need that the Christian area of Beirut is “completely devastated,” with at least 10 churches destroyed.
“In one second, more damage was done to the Christian area of Beirut than during the long years of the civil war. We have to rebuild everything again from the ground up.”

The priest stressed that amid the country’s long economic crisis and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Lebanon is ill-equipped to face this new emergency. International aid is urgently needed to meet people’s basic needs, they said.

Lebanon is currently facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with corruption and financial mismanagement leading to an unprecedented devaluation of its currency, hyperinflation, rising unemployment and banking restrictions. The health system is also in crisis. Power outages and street protests had rocked the country a few months before the coronavirus pandemic broke out.

CNEWA LAUNCHES EMERGENCY CAMPAIGN FOR LEBANON
Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) President Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari has said, “CNEWA has been at the service of the churches and peoples of Lebanon for decades, and we are firmly committed to assisting Lebanon’s Christian communities in gathering financial and prayerful support to provide immediate relief to all who are suffering, and those who have fallen through the cracks, especially those facing homelessness and in need of medical care and food.”

HUNGARY DONATES ONE MILLION EUROS TO LEBANON
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb?n has said the Hungarian government decided on Wednesday, August 4, to send one million euros in humanitarian aid to Lebanon to help victims of a deadly blast in Beirut and contribute to reconstruction efforts to follow.
The prime minister’s press chief, Bertalan Havasi said the money would be sent under the arrangements of the Hungary Helps humanitarian aid program to Lebanon’s Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch.