Building Destruction and Debris Quantities Assessment in Lebanon’s conflict-affected areas

A new assessment from UN-Habitat Lebanon, the University of Balamand, and the Center for Environmental Research of the Eastern Mediterranean (CREEMO) at Saint Joseph University has released findings from a remote assessment of building destruction and debris quantities caused by the recent conflict impacting Lebanon since October 2023. The assessment focuses on seven districts across the South and Nabatiyeh governorates, offering satellite imagery analysis of the scale of the conflict’s impact on aspects of the built environment. The publication is part of a series of similar assessments in different conflict-affected areas in Lebanon, with forthcoming assessments expected for other governorates. 

The assessment utilized pre-conflict and recent (with a spatial resolution of 3 to 5 metres) from September 2023 and 5 November 2024, respectively. This allowed for the detection of areas with total and partial building destruction. By overlaying these findings with pre-conflict building footprints, the study calculated the number and percentage of buildings totally and partially destroyed by the conflict in the study areas. 

To further refine the analysis, the number of all destroyed buildings was estimated, based on common unit sizes in urban and rural areas in Lebanon. Additionally, the assessment calculated the weight of debris (in tonnes) generated from the detected destroyed buildings. 

Details about the methodology used, including its limitations, are explained in the publication. The assessment offers valuable insights into the scale of destruction and debris generated, providing essential baseline data for future recovery and reconstruction efforts in the conflict-affected areas, including housing rehabilitation and the environmentally sound collection, removal and disposal of debris, among others. 

Access the full publication here: https://bit.ly/UNH-BDDQA