On August 4th, a colossal explosion took place in Beirut’s port that plummeted the capital to a whole new level of devastation. This drastic event led to the destruction of Beirut’s port while most of the city got damaged. The blast, biggest in Lebanon’s history, led to a shortage of medical supplies and the overcrowding of the hospitals in Beirut, exceeding its full capacity. It caused serious damage to the whole area. 157 people dead, over 50 missing, more than 5,000 injured, and around 300,000 people lost their homes. The economic crisis, COVID-19, and the blast of the port exhausted the country’s economy, health sector, infrastructure, and most importantly the mental and psychological health of its population.
As an immediate response, the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST) gathered an emergency response committee to face the crisis. This committee is calling on families affected by the explosion in Beirut to call the hotline number (+961 81 279 635) to secure their needs for shelter, food, clothes, or baby supplies. It also invites those wishing those wishing to provide support to contact the organization’s offices located in Baalbeck-Hermel in order to provide the necessary support for people in Beirut. LOST is looking forward to be part of the rehabilitation process than can be implemented in Beirut’s districts. LOST aims at relieving human suffering and maintaining human dignity through humanitarian initiatives based on provision of material, logistics, and humanitarian interventions. Forms of assistance include the provision of shelter materials, clothing distribution, organizing donation campaigns to provide the essential needs from food for children, to kits and tools to be used in cleaning the damage.
On behalf of the entire LOST team, the organization would like to convey its deepest condolences to his excellency Jan Waltmans, to all the members of the Dutch Embassy in Lebanon, and to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Mrs. Hedwig Waltmans-Molier joined the convoy of victims who had fallen for freedom, justice, and peace. May her soul Rest in Peace.
