17 febbraio 2021- On 4 August 2020, 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, stored without proper safety measures at the port of the Lebanese city of Beirut, exploded, leaving over 300,000 people homeless and an on-going economic crisis. Even though the news doesn’t speak about that anymore, the situation is still disastrous and the current pandemic is making it even worse.
The explosion destroyed 292 facilities in the health sector, 36% of health facilities in the region, significantly reducing access to care among the most vulnerable populations, and in addition to this there are the 328,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (before the explosion there were 5,000). The government is planning a vaccine campaign that aims to vaccinate 70% of the population, using the humanitarian aid offered by the United Nations, and is starting this month.
According to the World Bank, the blast caused $4.5 billion in damages and the Lebanese pound has now lost more than 80% of its value against the dollar. High inflation, rising poverty and unemployment are making it incredibly difficult for Lebanon to recover from the disaster.
The scars of destruction remain everywhere. UNESCO and associations like Blue Shield International are working on rescue and reconstruction of houses, libraries and museums, but nothing will help survivors to recover from the trauma, even though psychological aid is offered by other countries. In addition to this, people are feeling betrayed by the government who offers no reconstruction aid while failing to determine responsibilities, and so they are answering with rage and protests.
By now, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded led Lebanon to be the country that houses the largest concentration of refugees per capita, with numerous concurrent crises and the highest number of daily new cases of COVID-19 yet seen in January.
Sources:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esplosione_di_Beirut
https://reliefweb.int/disaster/ot-2020-000177-lbn
Carla Da Prada, 3ACL
