A huge Lebanese flag is hung on a damaged building in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 13, 2020. Beirut's governor previously announced that 300,000 people have become homeless following the explosions with many of them unable to afford fixing their houses due to the financial crisis prevailing in the country and the loss of thousands of jobs. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich)
by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- On Aug. 4 afternoon, Naji Massoud, an old man in his 70s, was sitting on the balcony of his small house in Gemmayze in Beirut sipping his coffee, when two explosions rocked Beirut's port, shaking buildings all over Lebanon's capital.
Seconds after the explosions, Massoud found himself on the floor barely able to move as shattered glasses and most of the furniture in the bedroom next to him fell on his body which had already suffered several injuries since Lebanon's civil war in 1975.
Massoud's wife, who was cooking in the kitchen, also fell down breaking her nose, shoulder and leg.
Now that Massoud and his wife were lucky enough to survive the massive explosions that killed over 170 people and wounded over 6,000 in the city, they have to deal with the challenge of reconstructing their house which has become uninhabitable.
"All I can do for now is put nylon on my windows to prevent rainwater or dust from entering the house. I certainly cannot afford fixing the house or replace the shattered glasses," Massoud told Xinhua.
Beirut's explosions came at a time when the country suffers from the worst economic crisis in its history with people unable to withdraw money from their banks' accounts due to unofficial capital control imposed by financial institutions.
"I blocked my savings for five years to be able to get a good interest rate in return and live with the money, but now i cannot withdraw any of my money," Massoud said.
Beirut's governor previously announced that 300,000 people have become homeless following the explosions with many of them unable to afford fixing their houses due to the financial crisis prevailing in the country and the loss of thousands of jobs.
Most of the damage in Beirut was caused on heritage buildings in Achrafieh, Downtown, Mar Mikhael and Gemmayze.
The UNESCO warned that 640 heritage buildings have been damaged by the explosions and 60 of them are at risk of collapse, stressing that they will launch an international appeal to rebuild the Lebanese capital's heritage.
The UN agency announced in a statement that it obtained these figures from an assessment made by the Director General of Antiquities at the Ministry of Culture in Lebanon Sarkis Khoury.
"At least 8,000 buildings were damaged, most of them in the old districts of Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael," Khoury said, calling for urgent work to avoid more damage with heavy rain in the fall season.
Mohamad Kheir, secretary general of the High Relief Committee, said that most of the damage on heritage buildings requires special restoration techniques, cost and time.
Kheir noted that those whose houses were destroyed can receive support from the committee by taking photos of the damage and submit ownership or rent documents for their houses to the mayor in their area.
"I am sleeping at my relatives' house for the time being but I spend my whole day here in my house in hope to see if anyone will come to check the damage for support," Massoud said.
Joseph Metri, another resident of Mar Mikhael neighborhood, said he is not expecting any support from the government as some architects visited his damaged house and asked him to present bills for the amounts he pays to fix his house.
"I do not have any money to fix my house. I have nowhere else to go either," he said.
Media outlets in Lebanon have been interviewing people whose houses were damaged over the past few days while calling upon wealthy citizens to help the most vulnerable who are incapable of fixing their destroyed shelters ahead of the winter season.
Beirut's municipality has come under heavy criticism in the past few days for not taking part in the damage assessment campaign.
However, such allegations were denied by the municipality which assured that it is working as an umbrella for volunteers by providing them with needed material to sweep the streets and people's houses.
In fact, all eyes turned during the past days to associations and Lebanese young people who volunteered to remove shattered glass from the streets of the city.
Individual volunteers are currently still working on cleaning the streets by removing glass in addition to offering support including water, food and other products to those in need. Enditem
