In response to massive fires that occurred in northern Lebanon, throughout July and August of this year, Japan has allocated a grant aid through a project executed by the International Organization For Migration (IOM) to strengthen the fire response capacity of the local authorities in the region.

This initiative, which has been successfully concluded by IOM in collaboration with the local NGO "Akkarouna", included the procurement of necessary fire-fighting gear and personal protective equipment to support first-responders in containing potential fires safely and effectively, and the provision of training across the municipalities in Northern Lebanon to assist with disaster risk management in the region. The project also included a "cash-for-work" component to support the livelihoods of the local communities that participated in cleaning forest areas for fire prevention.  

Unfortunately, Lebanon is again witnessing devastating fires that raged through forests and agricultural areas, in particular in the South and Mount Lebanon in the past few days. Japan will continue to stand by Lebanon through such ordeals, and will maintain its support to developmental and environmental projects across the country, with the hope to limit future occurrences of large-scale fires.