CYPRUS: Campgrounds with sleeping facilities are constructed in Larnaca to accommodate thousands of evacuees from Lebanon

Record ID: 346008

  • Title: CYPRUS: Campgrounds with sleeping facilities are constructed in Larnaca to accommodate thousands of evacuees from Lebanon
  • Date: 24th July 2006
  • Summary: (BN13) LARNACA, CYPRUS (JULY 23, 2006) (REUTERS) FRENCH SHIP CARRYING EVACUEES VARIOUS OF EVACUEES WALKING OFF SHIP EVACUEES LOOKING ON VARIOUS MORE OF FRENCH EVACUEES WALKING OFF FRENCH DEFENCE MINISTER MICHÈLE ALLIOT-MARIE WALKING DOWN GANGPLANK WITH OTHER EVACUEES ALLIOT-MARIE SHAKING HANDS WITH FRENCH EMERGENCY WORKERS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH DEFENCE MINISTER MICHÈLE ALLIOT-MARIE, SAYING: "Today, we have registered, as far as France is concerned, around nine thousand demands for voluntary departures. Around five thousand have been evacuated already. Normally, in the next few days, we should have finished answering to this first batch of demands but of course we will keep our operation as long as demands (for evacuation) are being made." VARIOUS OF EVACUEES GETTING ON TO COACH EVACUEES LOOKING OUT OF COACH WINDOWS CHILDREN WAITING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SARAH OSSERANE, FRENCH-LEBANESE NATIONAL LIVING IN LEBANON, BEING EVACUATED SAYING: "Well I'm happy, but I'm thinking about all those people who are back there, so you know it's a bit complicated. It's a bit of a bizarre feeling, you know." WOMAN BEING HELPED ONTO STRETCHER
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cyprus
  • Country: Cyprus
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAEJTVJMOPGX1KKWB0L9H03GEZ4
  • Story Text: Various countries with large populations leaving Lebanon have constructed campgrounds with row upon row of beds in facilities such Larnaca's basketball stadium where over two and half thousand Canadians will be sheltered after disembarking from ships arriving from Lebanon.
    Canada has one of the largest populations of citizens in Lebanon estimated at least at 40 thousand. The stadium in Larnaca is close to the island port where over the last weeks scores of ships have been unloading evacuees.
    Swiss officials have also set up a camp in a local school for some 250 of their citizens.
    The large numbers have caused a buildup in Cyprus as people must wait to be included in chartered flights leaving from the country's airport.
    Several specially chartered flights have been placed to accommodate all the nationals trying to get out, but Larnaca's small airport can handle only so many flights.
    The first to stage holding shelters was the United States after evacuating thousands and placing them in transit at fairgrounds.
    Many of the evacuees were of Lebanese origin and expressed their anger over the events taking place in Lebanon.
    'This inhuman. Families are lost. People are apart. This is unfair. This is not human, against human rights. We want people to stand up. And this is unfair for Lebanon, unfair for humankind. Children are dying. As you see everyone is tired, everyone is sick. We want to go back to our homes in peace," said one Swiss national.
    Showing stress and exhaustion they said they were eager to get home.
    France's Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie visited a French navy vessel that had brought 200 evacuees to the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Sunday (January 23).
    Cyprus has received nearly 30,000 people from dozens of countries and this may rise to 70,000, a big strain for the small Mediterranean island at the height of its tourist season.
    French Defence Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie on Sunday visited Larnaca.
    "Today, we have registered, as far as France is concerned, around nine thousand demands for voluntary departures. Around five thousand have been evacuated already. Normally, in the next few days, we should have finished answering to this first batch of demands but of course we will keep our operation as long as demands (for evacuation) are being made," said Alliott-Marie.
    A further 15 vessels are expected to bring in more French, Canadian, American and Indian evacuees by early Monday.
    But for those leaving friends and family behind, the arrival to safety seemed a mixed blessing.
    "Well I'm happy, but I'm thinking about all those people who are back there, so you know it's a bit complicated. It's a bit of a bizarre feeling, you know," Sarah Osserane, a French-Lebanese girl being evacuated.
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