The chances of finding survivors under the rubbles of Gemmayze faded to barely 2%, shattering the hopes of the Lebanese hooked for days and nights on the unfurling rescue mission.
“I was not aware I needed a miracle that much. Please God, give Beirut this miracle it deserves,” said Lebanese film-maker Selim Mourad, reported The Guardian.
The miracle didn’t materialize as everybody wanted or prayed for. However, it did happen in another form.
A building that had crashed to the ground and over a narrow alley of a busy street could have swallowed many lives under its massive shattered structure.
For weeks, people thought that it did. For three days and nights, people believed excruciatingly that 2 kids were buried alive there. The miracle is that they were none. Not even a dead body was found.
That has brought some peace to the hearts of the people ailing for those assumed buried alive under the rubble for one full month.
Now, it is a matter to clear all the rubbles and secure the crumbling building that poses a public threat.
However, in order to undertake that risky mission, the Lebanese and Chilean rescue teams need the permission of the government, which it’s hoped they get the soonest.
As of yet, the Lebanese civil defense and the Chile Topos haven’t given up on their humanitarian mission. Neutralizing the danger of that building is a crucial part of it.
They have worked under extremely difficult conditions, around the clock, digging tunnels around the area and swooping 95% of the collapsed building, and never gave up.
“We are not leaving the site until we’ve finished going through the rubble, even if a new building collapse threatens,” civil defense officer Qassem Khater had said throughout the operation, and they don’t intend to stop now.
The slim 1% possibility of finding anyone is still keeping them at work.
To those wondering how the Chilean team has been misinformed by its extra sophisticated detector and Flash the hero dog, Chilean specialist Walter Munoz had a valid explanation for it.
The heartbeat/pulse detector is highly sensitive and its accuracy must have been affected by various factors: the crowd surrounding the area, the suppressed air under the rubble, and the rescuers who were already inside.
One thing that was noted, the Chilean team looked as surprised and disappointed. They’ve undertaken numerous highly dangerous rescues around the world, and successfully.
They also have hoped not to disappoint the Lebanese people but they did far and beyond and the Lebanese recognize that and feel grateful. After all, there were no lives under the rubble.
The beating pulse, which hashtag took social media by storm, is apparently the beating heart of Beirut, Sitt El-Dunniya, who refuses to die under her devastation.
The heart of Beirut is beating…
