…إذا الشعب يوماً أراد الحيـــــــاة فلا بــدّ أن يستجيب القــــدر
ولا بدّ للــــيل أن ينجلــــــــــي ولا بـــدّ للقيـــد أن ينكســــر
Should the people one day truly desire life, then fate shall respond. And their night shall then begin to fade, and their shackles break and fall.
~ Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi.
The explosion in Beirut didn’t only destroy a major city in a blink of an eye, but it also broke millions of hearts.
People from all over the world, Lebanese or not, saw the news, the videos, the pictures, or witnessed and experienced this tragedy first hand.
And they all rushed to help. Especially the amazing Lebanese people, who helped and supported one another during these hard times.
How did they do so? Well, here’s what the Lebanese people have been doing to help each other after the Beirut explosion:
#1 Helping rebuild houses
Many people lost their loved ones, and many lost their houses and their only shelter. Although some heartbreaks can last forever, others, like houses, can be fixed with a little teamwork.
This is what many Lebanese volunteers have been doing. They are making things easier for the people and the families affected by the explosion by rebuilding their destroyed homes.
#2 Providing shelter
And when the Lebanese aren’t repairing damaged houses, they are providing shelter for those who lost their homes.
Many across Lebanese have opened their doors to the residents of Beirut. They have welcomed the traumatized families into their own homes for free.
#3 Treating people on site
The number of injuries was very high. Hospitals were overwhelmed and some cases needed urgent treatments, unlike others. There were people who needed urgent surgeries and those who could have been treated on-site.
This is what some doctors, health workers, and med students offered to do in order to ensure the wounded get treated the soonest and the pressure on the hospitals reduced.
On that note, it has been reported that the hundreds of health workers who were previously laid off from AUBMC were among the very first who ran to help.
#4 Remembering the victims
While people focused on supporting the survivors and looking after those affected, they didn’t forget the victims and paused to make a memorial for them.
#5 Showing support from all around the world
Lebanese people from all around the world have rushed to their homeland’s aid, either through donations, fundraising, dedicating their restaurants’ sales, or through emotional support with vigils in various world cities.
They also stood up with the Lebanese back home, holding solidarity demonstrations in various cities, demanding justice.
#6 Surviving
The explosion left a lot of people in Lebanon vulnerable, traumatized, and in need. However, they did what they do best, they survived. They are looking at the next step that will bring justice to the victims, the city, and the people.
#7 Proving resilience and determination
Some would say that after everything the Lebanese people have gone through and are going through right now, they will eventually give up to despair. But this population always proves otherwise.
After every rough patch, the Lebanese come back stronger than ever and ready to fight and win.
#8 Looking after each other
The Lebanese people are being there and present for each other, providing food or shelter or material support or medical supplies/services, etc.
Everyone got affected by the explosion one way or another, yet they are all willing to help and volunteer to fix the houses, to look after the people, to comfort others, to lend moral support, and to rebuild Beirut.
#9 Picking up the pieces
Volunteers have been coming to Beirut from all over the country to help clean the streets and the houses and fix what they can. They are cleaning an entire city, just by showing up with a broom.
The Lebanese people have so much love for their country that it aches them to see it in such bad shape. They want the beautiful, full of life Beirut back, even if it means that they have to build it piece by piece with their own hands.
#10 The country is full of heroes
Everyone is contributing to relieve the residents from this disaster, each in his/her own way. Health workers, volunteers, firemen, civil defense, engineers, architects, electricians… etc.
They are all Lebanese heroes who are dedicating their time, energy, health, know-how, and strength to helping others, for by lifting Beirut’s residents they are lifting the capital and the country.
Beirut for the Lebanese, even after the explosion, is still the most beautiful city on earth. It is so because its people are beautiful, inside out, and because it is deeply loved by every Lebanese person.
#11 They are saving the pets who got harmed and lost at the explosion
The Lebanese haven’t forgotten to rush to the rescue of Beirut’s pets who got suddenly catapulted into a scary world of devastation, terrorized, confused, and hurt, and many stuck under the rubbles and destruction.
Over 200 volunteers have prompted to join for their rescue, searching through Beirut’s rubbles, and they still do. From the estimated 1000 lost pets, some 90 have been so far reunited with their families.
So when, a couple of years from now, people will ask us how the country recovered from such a tragic event, we will tell them that the power of the amazing Lebanese people made it happen.
Because they truly aspire to live… and fate shall respond…
