In the weeks that have passed since the explosion in Beirut on 4 August, 2020, I have shared updates as well as archival and personal photos with information about how to help the recovery and rebuilding. It’s been heartbreaking to see the destruction of the spaces of my childhood. Those neighbourhoods stretch out like a transnational thread of memory that connects me through time and space to a family history that only tangentially and accidentally passed through Beirut, but that is concentrated in particular places. I stand in solidarity with the people of Beirut as they undertake the immense task of recovery and reconstruction that is underway.

If you are thinking of Beirut and how to help, please consider supporting local organisations that are assisting the most vulnerable communities to survive and rebuild, or donating to one of the hospitals that were severely damaged in the explosion.

I have provided a list of suggestions below. The list is compiled from information received from friends as well as my own internet-based research on the organisations.

Matbakh El Balad – a volunteer run organisation providing free meals. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/impact-lebanon-cook

Ahla Fawda – non-profit helping families with rebuilding.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/beirut-blast-victims-relief-fund

Egna Legna Besidet – a non-profit organisation supporting Ethiopian domestic workers.
https://au.gofundme.com/f/food-and-medicine-for-kafala-victims-in-lebanon

Anti-Racism Movement Lebanon (ARM) – providing support and disaster relief for migrant workers and refugees  https://www.givingloop.org/mcc

Mousharaka – a fundraiser providing families with essentials
https://au.gofundme.com/f/support-for-needy-families-in-lebanon

Kafe be Kafak – a youth organisation providing food aid https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/KafeBeKafak

Baytna Baytak – a social initiative that has been providing housing for frontline health workers and housing blast victims who lost their homes https://www.baytnabaytak.com/home

Impact Lebanon – Lebanon-based not-for-profit, that is supporting numerous community initiatives to provide assistance and support for those affected. This is their disaster relief appeal: https://www.impactlebanon.org/initiatives/disaster-relief-after-explosion-in-beirut

Hospitals in crisis, five nurses killed

Several of the city’s hospitals and medical facilities were severely impacted, with three hospitals destroyed and rendered no longer functional, and twelve other facilities damaged. The nurses’ union (Order of Nurses in Lebanon) released a statement on the five nurses who were killed in the explosion (see image above). They were Lena Abu Hamdan, Jessica Kawaji Dawood, Mireille Germanos, Jacqueline Gebran and Jessica Bazdjian. Four of the five nurses worked at the St George Hospital, where twelve patients and two visitors were also killed and more than a hundred hospital staff were injured.

You can support the rebuilding of the hospitals by direct money transfer through your financial institution. Details can be found on the web or social media pages of the individual hospitals, listed below.

St George Hospital https://www.stgeorgehospital.org/stgeorge-donation

Hopital Libanais Geitaoui  http://www.hopital-libanais.com/pages/donate_now

Hopital des souers des rosaire (Wardieh) https://www.facebook.com/HopitalDesSoeursDuRosaire

LAU Medical Centre – Rizk Hospital https://www.laumcrh.com/donation

Media on the impact of the blast on Beirut’s hospitals

ABC News Australia, Beirut Blast leaves hospitals damaged or destroyed as coronavirus cases soar, 16 August 2020

CBS News, ‘There’s nothing left’: Beirut doctors say hospitals were so damaged by explosion they had to turn away patients, 6 August 2020

Reuters, ‘The Final Blow’: Beirut blast batters struggling hospitals, 13 August 2020

Row 1 (left to right)

• Rue Gouraud, 1900. Source: Fouad Debbas (1986) Beyrouth: Notre Mémoire
• The Port of Beirut, 1900. Source: Fouad Debbas (1986) Beyrouth: Notre Mémoire
• Street scenes from the neighbourhood of Saint Demetrios/Mar Mitr, 2003. Author’s own.

Row 2 (left to right)

• St George Hospital, 1920. Source: Fouad Debbas (1986) Beyrouth: Notre Mémoire
• Traditional Lebanese house in the Abdel Wahab El Inglizi quarter.  Source: Jad Tabet (2001) Beyrouth: Portait de Ville.
• Rue Gouraud, 1920. Source: Fouad Debbas (1986) Beyrouth: Notre Mémoire

Row 3 (left to right)

• Hotel Heliopolis at the top of hotel district, facing the port. C1909-1910. Source: Ghassan Tueni and Faris Sassine (2003) El Bourj: Place de la liberté et Porte du Levant
• Karantina (Quarantine), 1900. Source: Fouad Debbas (1986) Beyrouth: Notre Mémoire
• Zeitouneh Bay, with hotels and cafes on columns at the water’s edge.  Photo Felix Bonfils 1873. Source: Fouad Debbas (2001) Des Photographes à Beyrouth 1840-1918