Beirut blast: World Food Programme and partners support recovery of hospital
Volunteers from a WFP-backed project help bring hard-hit hospital back to work
Although Nasser Deeb lives more than 80 kilometres away from the Port of Beirut, he hadn’t been able to think of anything else since 4 August, the day a blast ripped through the capital. Nasser couldn’t just stand idly by; he wanted to play a bigger role.
Equipped with safety material and overflowing with the urge to help, he headed to Beirut alongside a hundred people who, like him, were participating in a joint WFP and Lebanon Reforestation Initiative (LRI) project. Having decided to volunteer in recovery efforts, they found their way to the Rosaire Hospital in Gemmayzeh, less than a kilometre away from the site of the blast that killed hundreds and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
“I want to tell my kids that I stood by my country when it needed me the most,” Nasser says proudly. “When I arrived at the hospital, it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. All the footage does not even mirror half the destruction — but we’re here to help.”
“In a split second everything was gone,” says Sister Nicola Akiki, Director of the Rosaire Hospital, recalling the evening when most of the recently-renovated hospital was wiped out. “The 4th of August is a day I’ll never forget. Patients injured and covered in blood rushed instinctively to our hospital. We treated them on the sidewalk as we were evacuating 26 patients and 60 hospital staff.”
Sister Akiki pauses as she speaks about a colleague who unfortunately did not survive the blast. “She passed away treating wounds. When will our wound be treated?,” she asks, then proceeds to describe WFP and LRI volunteers as “the true face of Lebanon.”
“Volunteers are eager to make a difference,” says Julia Hani who works as a Project Coordinator at LRI — a WFP partner in reforestation projects. “Equipped with face masks and heavy-duty gloves, they work in safe environments, away from health or chemical contamination risks. They spray water on surfaces to prevent particles and dust from dispersing back into the air and separate the debris out into glass and wood for appropriate treatment. Those who are experts in construction are helping build back,” she adds.
“There is an urgent need to reopen the emergency department at the Rosaire Hospital, which was brought down by the force of the explosion,” says Kassem Jouni, WFP’s Programme Policy Officer. “Our flexibility allows us to immediately respond to any crisis that might affect Lebanon,” he adds.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the blast put three Beirut hospitals completely out of operation and left three others working at partial capacity, reducing the number of beds in public and private hospitals by almost 550. Initial results from an assessment of 55 primary healthcare clinics and centers across Beirut showed just over half are not functioning, with the remainder offering varying levels of service.
Through funds from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), WFP and LRI mobilized volunteers who hit the ground running, abiding by strict coronavirus-related measures.
The explosion that hit Beirut added an extra layer of vulnerability to people already suffering from one of the worst economic crises in the region as well as a surge in coronavirus cases.
As a response, WFP has shipped 12,500 metric tons of wheat flour to help stabilize the price of bread in Lebanon and has procured 150,000 food parcels to distribute to families impacted by the economic crisis and coronavirus lock-down measures.
Since the blast, WFP has also distributed parcels to local communal kitchens providing meals to victims of the explosion and volunteers working to clean up the debris.
Building on its existing cash assistance programme in Lebanon that serves more than 100,000 Lebanese, WFP will scale up its assistance by ten-fold to reach people across the country including Beirut residents who have been directly affected by the blast.
