Flood of refugees overwhelms Lebanese shelters

BEIRUT, Aug 5 (Reuters) Humanitarian groups sought new routes to bring aid into Lebanon today after Israeli bombs severed their main route, and said a flood of refugees was overwhelming shelters in safe areas.

Following a partial pause in bombing this week, Israel has resumed heavy strikes against targets in Lebanon, forcing tens of thousands more people to join the estimated 900,000 Lebanese displaced by the three-week-old war.

Cassandra Nelson, senior communications officer for Mercy Corps, said schools, municipal buildings and parks in Beirut and the nearby Chouf mountains were full and refugees were running out of places to seek shelter.

''These options have really been maxed out. The schools are full, hospital basements are full. With these additional people coming in, there's no place to put them,'' she said.

''If even one case of a disease like mumps or measles happens it will spread like wildfire, and it will first hit the children, who make up 45 per cent of the displaced.'' The United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR said strikes this week against the Lebanese city of Baalbek and other areas had increased the flow of people fleeing the country.

Its monitoring teams reported 5,000 people a day had crossed the border and 140,000 were now in Syria.

''UMBILICAL CORD'' CUT The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) found a new route to bring in aid a day after Israeli warplanes struck four bridges to cut what the agency called its ''umbilical cord'' for supplies.

It distributed food to 8,000 displaced in Beirut and will resume large convoys tomorrow to bring supplies from Syria and northern Lebanon to the bomb-ravaged south.

''We've found there is a route accessible for our trucks on small secondary roads, but it's going to be slow and difficult because of the heavy traffic,'' said WFP spokesman Robin Lodge.

The WFP said it had distributed food for 80,000 people for a week but tens of thousands more were trapped without aid.

Medical group Medecins San Frontieres (MSF) said fighting in the south had prevented it from sending convoys there.

MSF spokesman Bart Rijs said the war had especially hit displaced people with chronic illnesses who could not get treatment. He added water was running out in many places.

''Sanitary conditions are worsening due to problems with water for drinking, showers and cleaning,'' he said. ''Over time the living conditions of the (displaced) are deteriorating.'' The threat of fuel shortages for power plants, hospitals and water pumping stations loomed, as two ships loaded with 87,000 tonnes of fuel intended for Lebanon refused to approach Beirut for lack of written safety guarantees from Israel.

The UN and Lebanon's government say the country will come to a halt within days when fuel runs out.

REUTERS SY KP2006