NFPA Journal - Winter 2021 - 41
VIEWPOINTS ON FIRE
AND LIFE SAFETY
It didn't help that Lebanon was
already in the throes of another historic
calamity. In 2019, the country's currency
collapsed, the result of decades of
government borrowing-and of widely
reported government mismanagement
and corruption-that began in the early
1990s following Lebanon's 15-year civil
war that left much of the country in
ruins. The economic collapse rendered
the Lebanese pound virtually worthless,
and skyrocketing prices mean that
essentials like food, fuel, and medication
are increasingly out of reach for much
of the population. Electricity is typically
available only several hours each day, if
that. Thousands have been plunged into
poverty while the professional classes
flee for other cities in the Middle East
and Europe.
Against that backdrop, Beirut has
slowly begun to rebuild, a process
Sawsan has observed up close from
her position at Dar. A native of Beirut,
Sawsan joined Dar 15 years ago as
an architect and now heads all fire
and life safety efforts for the company's
operations across the Middle East
and North Africa. Her work focuses
on a variety of large-scale occupancies
including airports, stadiums, shopping
malls, universities, palaces, and residential
developments. An ongoing Dar
project is the expansion of the Grand
Holy Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia,
an assignment Sawsan described as
a " one-of-a-kind experience for a lifesafety
strategy designer. "
While such projects are showcased by
cities throughout the region as examples
of their growing prominence on the
world stage, Beirut-once a cosmopolitan
financial center known as " the Paris
of the Middle East " -struggles to put
itself back together against fears that
Lebanon is on its way to becoming a
failed state. " It breaks our hearts what
is happening to our city, " Sawsan said.
" We are no longer living in the city that
we know and love. We don't know it
anymore. "
NFPA Journal recently spoke with
Sawsan about life in Beirut, her work,
and the challenges of maintaining a
safety culture in an urban society on the
brink of collapse.
What is Beirut like these days?
It is dark and dull. People are mostly
down and frustrated. It is like we are
NFPA .ORG/JOURNAL * NFPA JOURNAL | 41
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2021
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2021 - Cover1
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2021 - Contents
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