Earlier today, there were massive explosions in Beirut, Lebanon.

According to the BBC, “it is not yet clear what caused the explosion in the port area of the city... but hospitals are said to be overwhelmed by casualties.” 

Prior to this disaster, the people in Lebanon were already suffering immensely. With the collapse of Lebanon's economy and the detrimental effects of COVID-19, hundreds of thousands of people were pushed into poverty in the last year alone.

UMR has been working in Lebanon for years, providing cash assistance, food parcels, fresh meat, and medical assistance to the poorest areas of the country. In fact, UMR just recently completed its Qurbani distribution in Lebanon and has been routinely providing families with essential food items since the protests began back in October 2019. Our team is on the ground actively responding to the escalating situation and will continue to support Lebanon through this difficult time.

But in order to help those directly impacted by the explosion, we must act NOW.

UMR is assessing the situation and responding as quickly as we can. We are currently preparing to ship emergency health kits to hospitals in Lebanon. Each health kit can serve 10,000 beneficiaries for 3 months, which is vital as hospitals are already overwhelmed by the increasing number of patients.

As we learn more about the situation, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Lebanon.