Lebanon needs our help amid port blast disaster

Imagine if you suddenly became homeless in an instant. That is exactly what has happened to over 300,000 people in Lebanon, following a massive explosion on Aug. 4 in the capital city of Beirut. At least a couple of hundred people died in the blast and thousands have been injured.

The people of Lebanon need the help of the international community, for the impact will be felt for many months to come. This tiny, impoverished Middle Eastern nation has endured much in recent years, from taking in 1.5 million refugees from Syria’s civil war to the spread of the coronavirus. This latest disaster will collapse the poor nation unless we come to its aid.

The explosion happened at a Beirut port warehouse containing a large quantity of ammonium nitrate. The blast and subsequent fires were widespread for kilometres, causing severe damage to numerous buildings, including medical facilities.

Lebanon is now confronted with a major humanitarian disaster amid an economic collapse and health crisis. Beirut hospitals are overwhelmed treating the injured, as they had already been stretched to the limit coping with cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Jad Sakr, country director of Save the Children in Beirut, says, “well over 100,000 children have seen their homes destroyed and lost everything they had.”

Sakr adds: “The explosion could not have come at a worse time: during an economic collapse, just a day after a COVID-19 lockdown lifted in Beirut, and just before a new lockdown would have come into effect. Many people used this window of opportunity to go running, or just socialize and hang out at the seaside and escape their worries — very close to where the explosion happened.”

Rescue teams have descended quickly upon Beirut to help the wounded and find those missing amid the debris. Children displaced in the chaos need to be reunited with their families.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) is also warning of a hunger crisis in Lebanon because of the explosion. Grain was destroyed in the blast. “As Lebanon imports nearly 85 per cent of its food, the severe damage to the Port of Beirut — the largest in the country — would push food prices beyond the reach of many,” says the WFP.

A recent WFP survey says 50 per cent of Lebanon’s citizens are worried they do not have enough food to eat. WFP feeds the hungry there, including a school lunch program with take-home rations for Lebanese and Syrian refugee children.

Lebanon was already reeling in poverty before this year began. The spread of COVID-19 within the country and the shutdown measures to contain it have worsened hunger and poverty. Save the Children, prior to the explosion, had released a study it said revealed that “in the Greater Beirut area, 910,000 people, including 564,000 children, do not have enough money to buy the basic essentials, including sufficient food.”

Now this tragedy further plunges Lebanon into despair and hunger.

There are many ways you can help by donating to charities that are operating in Lebanon, including Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, CARE, the World Food Program and UNICEF.