Jeremie Bodin: We need to start acting - and fast

Tyre, the fourth largest city in Lebanon, is under bombardment. The streets are empty, but 6,000 displaced families are crammed into schools and apartments. In one school, housed in a large, old building, families sit on the litter-covered floor. People are so exhausted and depressed they look straight through you, unable to engage, lost in their thoughts. The children sit, idle. They don't run or play, but sit in small groups, whispering to each other, trying not to disturb their parents. In refugee camps in other parts of the world, children play with each other, but here the impact of the war is so strong that they no longer behave like children.

In the kitchen, the camping stove is used as the main gas supply has gone. Women are desperate for clean nappies for their children.

One family was on holiday when the bombing started. They sheltered in a cave until they were taken to the school. They have no idea what's going to happen to them. All they know is that their home and their livelihoods have gone. The children I speak to are scared. They've tried to ask what has happened, but their parents are too exhausted - too depressed - to explain. As soon as the bombing stops, everyone wants to go back home, even if their home is rubble, but for now it's not possible.

The family hopes to travel north to an area where the attacks are not so severe. This might save them from the bombs, but they'll have new nightmares to face.

The road north, to the town of Saida, has also come under attack. When there is a lull in the bombs, cars full with families travel from Tyre. They arrive in the secure zones with nothing.

In Saida there are 100,000 displaced people and the hygiene conditions are already degrading. Families are crammed into apartments and schools, with no access to open space. Getting a balanced diet is impossible. There's not even enough clothing to go round. Women desperately need sanitary towels and water to wash.

In the nearby towns of Aley and Jezine, which have been hit less harshly by the bombings, the situation is equally distressing. Made up mostly of Druze and Christian communities, the town is now crowded with displaced families, living in camps. The schools are full of refugees.

New mothers produce no milk due to stress, putting the lives of their young babies in danger.

Parents are in shock and their children are terrified to see them so afraid.

There's no sense of security for them: they don't understand why their parents can't play with them any more. The children are civilians. They have nothing to do with the conflict. But it is they who are suffering.

It is a desperate situation but there are things we can do: work with lactating women to help them produce milk again, or provide them with a substitute. Bring soaps, toothpaste, clothes. Create areas where children have toys - and help to teach them to re-engage and play again. But we need to start acting now.

Jeremie Bodin is an aid worker with Save the Children