A Franco-Lebanese author whose husband suffered serious injuries as a result of the devastating explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut can hardly imagine how her country will be able to recover from this event which she describes as “apocalyptic”.
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Caroline Torbey and her husband were in their accommodation, located on the 13th floor of a building in Beirut, when the two blasts shook the capital.
“The second detonation was deafening, it was apocalyptic. Everything shook, there was dust everywhere and a breath that pushed us, ”she recounts.
The images that have circulated all over the web show the power of the second explosion, which shattered the windows of buildings for miles around. Ms Torbey’s accommodation was not spared, so she received a few shards of glass in one leg.
Her husband did not have the same luck. Very seriously injured in the legs by the shards of glass, he also suffered a trauma to the head.
“We only have a few seconds to realize what’s going on. We are in shock. Me, I came to my senses, but he was completely paralyzed, he couldn’t even move and he was completely bleeding, ”recalls Torbey.
After going to the nearest hospital – completely overwhelmed due to the number of injuries that were piling up, they had to go to a suburban hospital which, due to the severe economic crisis the country is going through, did not have all the resources to adequately treat all of the disembarked patients.
“We arrive in this hospital and it’s a hecatomb. There are wounded everywhere, there is blood everywhere. People are distraught, there are people dying. […] It’s a trauma that is enormous. ”
“Material and moral destruction”
Beyond the dead and injured, these explosions plunge the country even further into an infernal spiral, the outcome of which already seemed very distant before the disaster.
The Lebanese are now overwhelmed by the situation. It is also with great emotion that Caroline Torbey evokes the political and economic situation of her country.
“We have a corrupt political class, which is so disgusting, which is so ‘vomitable’, that they have driven the Lebanese people to ruin. We have nothing left. They took our money from us, they took our homes and they took the lives of some, ”she says in anger.
According to her, Lebanon will never be able to recover from this situation without the help of the international community. She encourages all those affected by the tragedy to give generously to organizations on the ground.
“We are really in a dramatic situation and it is not the fault of the Lebanese, it is the fault of the corrupt politicians and the corruption of this country”, she explains.
In the streets of Beirut, pain, sadness and despair are present despite the solidarity and resilience of the Lebanese. It is impossible, seeing the images of this devastated city, to imagine what the coming months will look like. Especially since several Lebanese have lost everything in these explosions.
“The streets are devastated,” observes Torbey. We were already in a dramatic economic situation, where people were practically dying of hunger, with what is happening today, I can say it very sincerely, Beirut has passed away. Beirut has had its last breath. ”