The Lebanese community in Quebec and humanitarian organizations are rushing to come to the aid of citizens afflicted by the explosions which destroyed part of the capital on Tuesday.
• Read also: Tribute to the victims of Beirut
• Read also: Lebanon: Ottawa to provide $ 5 million in humanitarian aid
“It’s a humanitarian crisis,” drops the Lebanese Consul General in Montreal, Antoine Eid. The needs are imminent in medicines and medical equipment, but also in food. The reserves of corn, wheat, everything went up in smoke. “
International aid began to arrive on Wednesday after the appeal launched by Prime Minister Hassan Diab “to all friendly countries and to brotherly countries”.
“Given the scale of the disaster, hospitals would quickly find themselves short of equipment and drugs,” Newspaper the coordinator of Médecins sans frontières in Lebanon, Emmanuel Massart.
“We gave trauma kits, we are going to open a surgical hospital in the Bekaa valley that we will equip to respond specifically to those injured by the explosion and we are going to set up rapid response teams in Beirut to intervene. in the most affected neighborhoods, ”he continues.
Canada donates $ 5 million
The Trudeau government announced on Wednesday that it will provide $ 5 million in humanitarian aid to support the grieving people, including $ 1.5 million that will go immediately to partners on the ground like the Lebanese Red Cross.
Lamia Charlebois
Consultant
Montreal public relations consultant Lamia Charlebois also believes that it is preferable to advocate “organizations that work on the spot” such as the Blood Bank and the Lebanese Food Bank for cash donations.
The Canadian Red Cross has also opened a fund on its website dedicated to helping victims.
“The money raised will go directly to the cause. There is no deduction for salaries, ”says the organization’s spokesperson, Carl Boisvert.
No time to waste
The Lebanese diaspora in Quebec, however, did not wait for the authorities to mobilize.
To meet the dire need for medical equipment, the Lebanese-Canadian National Center has prepared a 40-foot container full of medical equipment for clinics and hospitals donated by a Canadian company that wishes to remain anonymous.
“We are just waiting for the green light from the transporter to leave for Lebanon,” said the president of the center, Ali Faour.
Medical supplies have been airlifted from Kuwait, Iran and France to bail out hospitals and clinics already battered by the economic crisis and COVID-19.