Lebanese Stand in Solidarity as Govt Abandons Beirut Explosion Recovery Effort

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Armed with helmets and brooms, hundreds of volunteers have circulated through Beirut’s heavily damaged neighborhoods, cleaning up people’s homes and doing free basic repairs, often enough to enable the residents to stay there.

The explosion left entire blocks in shambles, with streets blanketed in broken glass, twisted metal, broken brickwork.

Yet within days, some streets were clean, the debris neatly sorted in piles. That was thanks to volunteers, often using social media to organize where to target.

In some places, they were sweeping streets and hauling away wreckage while security forces or soldiers stood nearby, watching.

That has only reinforced for Lebanese their government’s failure to provide basic services, much less respond to the disaster.

Many already blame the government and the broader ruling elite’s incompetence, mismanagement and corruption for the explosion.

Authorities allowed 2,750 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate to sit in a warehouse at the port unmonitored for seven years, despite multiple warnings of the danger, until it exploded when touched off by a fire.

The blast killed more than 170 people, injured thousands and wreaked chaos across the city.

The government almost completely left the public on its own to deal with the aftermath.

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Outside the demolished port, there have been no government clean-up crews in the streets and little outreach from officials to help beyond promises of compensation to those whose homes or businesses were damaged.

The list of services people are offering keeps expanding. It now includes free glass for cars damaged in the blast, free maintenance of electrical appliances and free cosmetic surgery for people with face injuries.

On Facebook, a group called Rebuild Beirut quickly sprung up.

Its volunteers are working at full speed, helping clean up homes and link survivors with donors who will cover the expenses of repairs.