Respect, food and shelter for people affected by the Beirut blast

Lebanon | 2020 | LHF

Beirut, Lebanon. Bouchra lives with her husband, her three children, and her sister. Their home was destroyed in the Beirut port explosion. “The blast made our house uninhabitable. Everything broke – the windows, the furniture. We can’t afford to fix it up… we can barely afford to eat.” Her adult children have found their wages cut by rapid inflation.

“Since the blast, our days have been really dark,” she says.

For two months, Bouchra was provided with a hot meal by CARE International through local partner Nusaned (‘We Support’), which fed the whole family — through funding from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund. The COVID-19 outbreak had yet to be controlled, so Infection Prevention and Control kits were also provided to reduce the risk of transmission.

With LHF support, partners provided cash-for-renting alternative accommodation for people in residential districts close to Beirut port while their destroyed homes were being repaired. Photo: UNDP Lebanon

Omar Saado, a senior field officer with Nusaned said “It’s all about being more respectful to others as well as showing compassion. We are working on the ground with families like Bouchra’s, affected by the Beirut blast. We are restoring houses or distributing food parcels. People are very vulnerable and what we learned allows us to better protect our participants.”

‍