Before the impact of the depression, which affected Lebanon at the beginning of this November, Jad Abboud, 29, took advantage of a few sunny days to resume the restoration of his house, which he lives in with his mother and sister in the Mudawar-Karantina area adjacent to the port of Beirut.

Jad talks about the tragedy of his family during the winter season, and sees it as an extension of the historical tragedy that befell the people of Beirut following the port explosion on 4 August.

As he removed the first rain damage, Gad told Al-Jazeera Net, "We do not forget those nightmarish moments that caused destruction to our house, as I was hit by shards of glass all over my body, so winter came to remind us that our tragedy did not end after the rain seeped into our house from the cracks in the walls left by the explosion. ".

A few hundred meters away from Gad's house, Joseph Nasr (64 years) was busy with a civil association repairing his house before the winter season intensified, and it is located directly behind Beirut Port.


After the blast wreaked havoc on his earthly home, Joseph wished to build a new house that would have been easier for him than going into an exhausted restoration workshop that would not restore his house to what it was before.

He told Al-Jazeera Net, "The state waited a lot to help us, to no avail, and it only gave us some food cartons, while repairing my house needs at least 30 thousand dollars, and the rains swept through it from the first winter."

80 thousand housing units were damaged in the Beirut Port explosion (Al-Jazeera)

Tragedy amid an economic crisis


After more than 3 months have passed, one tour in the areas surrounding the port of Beirut reveals that it will take years to wipe out the remnants of an explosion that many likened to a nuclear bomb, killing more than 200 victims and wounding more than 6 thousand.

What added to the tragedy of the victims of the explosion was that it came at a time when Lebanon is witnessing the worst economic collapse in its modern history, as the Lebanese are living under the weight of a stifling political, social and health crisis.

Winter on the impact of the Nakba ..

Since the port explosion occurred, the voices of Beirut residents and relief societies have risen to demand to accelerate reconstruction before the onset of winter, because they are aware of the implications of the disaster ahead.


Despite the efforts of associations and volunteers in the affected neighborhoods;

However, thousands of homes are still under restoration, or are no longer inhabitable.

Also in the al-Mudawar area, and on a parallel line from the home of the Syrian refugee Ahmed Hajj Astifi, whose story became famous after the port explosion destroyed his home and killed his wife and two daughters, another building collapsed as a result of storms and heavy rains at the beginning of this month.

Mukhtar Medawar Francois Jalakh expresses his regret;

Because the state did not take precautionary measures to protect buildings from falling in the affected areas, whose people have become extremely poor.

Those affected by the explosion blame the state and its institutions for the continuation of their tragedy (Al-Jazeera)

Risky,


he told Al-Jazeera Net, "A large part of Al-Mudawar and Karantina buildings are threatened with collapse in winter, after the explosion destroyed them and shook their structure, including about 60 archaeological buildings, some of which are at least 70 years old."


From the roundabout towards the neighborhoods of Mar Mikhael, after the first winter the smell of dirt mixed with the smell of garbage that had accumulated among the rubble.

And Mar Mikhael, known for its grandeur of buildings, has its facades either closed with iron sheets or nylon, while its streets knock only on the movement of workers.

While Fadi (one of the workers) was busy removing the rubble that sank in the rain mud, he told Al-Jazeera Net that their tasks have become more difficult in the winter season, and they are waiting for some sunny days to resume their work, and it is expected that this season will hinder the restoration work and remove the devastation left by the explosion.

From the stairs of Ghulam up towards Salah Labaka Street, Patrick Freiha (43 years) was standing beside the workers, to inspect his family's house, which was flooded with rain after the explosion smashed its windows and stone wall.


He complained to Al-Jazeera Net that he regretted this ancient house, which is about 100 years old - from the age of the founding of the state of Greater Lebanon (1920) - and its damages are estimated at $ 250,000.

He said, "We could not spare the time to speed up the restoration of our house before winter, at a time when we did not receive any assistance from the state and our money is withheld by the banks."

About a thousand heritage buildings were damaged by the explosion, some of them 100 years old (Al-Jazeera)

In numbers: Housing units


in

danger

At the weekend, the Lebanese army began distributing part of the financial aid that the High Relief Commission transferred to its treasury by a decision from the caretaker government, with the aim of contributing to the restoration of residential buildings that were struck by the explosion. The aid is supposed to cover only 17% of the units. The affected areas, or about 10 thousand housing units, to be completed within 15 days.

The value of the financial compensation is 100 billion Lebanese pounds (the exchange rate of the pound in the local market is currently 7,300 pounds against the dollar).

In the context, the Lebanese researcher at Information International, Muhammad Shams al-Din, told Al-Jazeera Net that their latest figures show the presence of about 80,000 housing units damaged in Beirut as a result of the explosion, including 65,000 housing units located in the immediate vicinity of the port, and another 25,000 in its rear perimeter. And indirect.

Among them, according to Shams al-Din, there are about 10,000 housing units that are no longer habitable, which doubles the danger to them in the winter season, as for the cost that the housing units need only to rehabilitate them, according to International Information, it amounts to about $ 3 billion.

On the other hand, the distressed families point the fingers of the blame to the state and accuse it of not taking responsibility towards them, in addition to the Beirut municipality, which they accuse of not taking the necessary care for them in the winter.

The mayor of Beirut, Jamal Itani, explained to Al-Jazeera Net that the municipality recently conducted a tender to award housing restoration projects, after it found in its survey that there are 170 buildings threatened with collapse.

Itani attributes the delay in starting the restoration to the red tape associated with government agencies authorized to approve the implementation of projects.

He said that 60% of families are still homeless outside their homes;

"Because the size of the damage caused by the explosion is greater than the municipality and the state, which hindered the disaster recovery before the onset of winter."

Despite the restoration work ... rainwater infiltrated hundreds of damaged homes, whose residents found no alternative (Al-Jazeera)

Beirut's heritage buildings


and about the threat to Beirut's heritage buildings, the Minister of Culture in the caretaker government, Abbas Mortada, told Al-Jazeera Net that 968 heritage-residential buildings were damaged by the explosion, including 90 buildings in a condition he described as embarrassing.

He said that the ministry was able to secure some grants to support 8 buildings, and that there are 26 buildings under reinforcement, and 44 other buildings have been severely damaged, and the cost of their reinforcement has not yet been secured, which makes them vulnerable in the winter season.

Mortada pointed out that there are 100 roofs of a heritage residential building that have been severely damaged, 66 roofs have been restored, and 44 other roofs have not received financial support for their restoration.