NFPA Journal - Winter 2021 - 42

Perspectives
living in a nightmare. Lots of basic necessities are unavailable.
If I need my medication, I have to get it from people who I
know are coming from abroad.
How does the local economy work?
If you have money, if you have access to US dollars, Beirut
can seem like a place you want to visit. The restaurants and
nightclubs are lit up, they have good food, and the hotels have
power. What is going on with that? This is what a foreigner
or tourist will see. For most of the people who live here, our
homes are the dark ones. The banks have frozen our money.
The truth is, for us it's as if the city is in a coma.
How much of this do you attribute to government
mismanagement?
The issue is not with the government only-government
changes a lot in Lebanon. The issue is with mismanagement
throughout the entire political system.
Can the situation improve anytime soon?
I really hope so, though it's not an easy mission. But nothing
is impossible with the right steps. Every country has corruption,
but I've never seen anything like what's happening in
Lebanon. If you don't have an effective system to control the
corruption, you allow all the corrupt people in Lebanon to
control us, whether it's fuel or medicine or food. Sometimes
there's no fuel for four or five days. How do I get to work if
I can't drive my car? So you think about ways to optimize,
and you decide to work from home. But how do I work from
home if there's no electricity?
What was the government response to the explosion?
The government resigned, yes, but nobody has been
condemned yet, nobody has been held responsible. This
catastrophe didn't just happen overnight-many people knew
what was stored in that warehouse, and they all knew the risk.
Still, the fire was allowed to go on for more than 40 minutes.
No precautions were taken to warn people or to stop traffic
along the busy road that runs next to the port. Many people
died in their cars near the site of the explosion. Firefighters
were sent to the fire with no idea of the consequences.
BEIRUT MOMENTS Challenges abound for a fragile society bending
beneath the weight of multiple crises. Top, graffiti in Arabic- " my
country did this " -overlooking the blast site, an indication of widespread
complaints by Lebanese over government mismanagement
and corruption. Middle, in the absence of a cohesive government
response to the explosion, Beirut residents took it upon themselves
to organize the cleanup of the city, which included removing tons
of shattered glass. Bottom, Sawsan Dahham in the heavily damaged
headquarters of Electricité du Liban, the state-run electrical company,
with a view of the stricken port beyond. Sawsan's employer,
Dar Al-Handasah, conducted a survey of the building following the
explosion, but the government has yet to take steps to repair it.
42 | NFPA JOURNAL * WINTER 2021
What does the political situation mean for rebuilding?
Much of it is happening on a personal level. If I own a building
and want to repair it, then I do it myself with my own money,
or with money donated for institutional buildings either by
wealthy Lebanese abroad or by other countries who want to see
Lebanon rise again. It was residents who cleaned up the city
after the explosion-students, social workers, children, citizens
like me who want to see their beautiful city shine again.
What about on a larger scale-the rebuilding
of institutions like schools, hospitals, and civic
infrastructure?
TOP AND MIDDLE, GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM, DAR AL-HANDASAH
NFPA Journal - Winter 2021

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