RECONSTRUCTION
Short Israel-Lebanon Conflict Generates Long-Term Damage
By Peter Reina and Neil Sandler
Even as damage assessment continues, governments around the world are pledging billions of dollars to aid rebuilding of structural and infrastructure damage from this summer's 34-day exchange of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
International donors meeting Aug. 31 in Sweden promised close to $1 billion for urgent reconstruction in Lebanon, not including earlier pledges for humanitarian and long-term projects. There were some 1,200 fatalities there, say Lebanese officials. President Bush says the U.S. will pledge $230 million, but damage estimates could well exceed $3 billion, according to published reports.
For now, an estimated 110 bridges are damaged and bomb craters cover 445,000 sq m of roads at 140 sites. Total transportation sector damage is at least $500 million. Bombing of the Jieh powerplant, 30 kilometers south of Beirut, and associated networks adds over $100 million to the repair bill, officials say. At least 15,000 tonnes of oil have leaked from damaged storage tanks, causing a 150-km coastal slick. UN scientists are set to assess it further.
Water and sanitation infrastructure incurred over $81 million in immediate damage, and at least 31 factories in South Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut were destroyed or damaged. Just clearing rubble from 4,500 destroyed homes in south Beirut will cost $8 million, the government estimates.
In Israel, repair of an estimated $2 million in damage from up to 4,000 Hezbollah rockets is generating its largest-ever public works program. The government pledges to restore some 12,000 homes, 30 schools and dozens of public and industrial buildings.
Hardest hit was Kiryat Shemona in the northern Galilee, where more than 30% of buildings in the town of 24,000 people were damaged, says Mayor Haim Barbibay. But repairs are proceeding. "We expect most renovations to be completed by the end of the year," says Doron Cohen, chairman of Amidar, Israel's largest state-owned housing company. "We have not had to demolish any buildings in Kiryat Shemona or any of the communities along the northern border."
Haifa, Israel's third largest city, suffered extensive structural damage from larger and more powerful rockets aimed at the busy port. Several buildings in older neighborhoods were demolished by direct hits. Some experts say damage and civilian casualties should lead to a rethinking of building codes. "We should go back to protective construction for public buildings that was widely used in the '70s," says Reuben Eytan of Eytan Building Designs, Tel Aviv.
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