Norma Mnassakh was leaving her Beirut apartment when a cloud of dust rose from a neighboring building. Retracing her steps, she found that a traditional building, badly damaged by the tragic explosion of August 4, had partially collapsed due to the rains.
“I was born and raised here. This neighborhood is my home. I know every corner of it. I lose all the benchmarks with which I grew up, ”tells AFP this fifty-something, moved, just hours after the collapse of the building, in front of a sidewalk covered with rubble.
Rmeil 24, an Ottoman-era building located in the Ashrafieh district, is among the few structures affected by the explosion that collapsed this week with the onset of high winds and heavy rains.
At least 90 other traditional houses damaged by the explosion are threatened by bad weather, resigning Minister of Culture Abbass Mortada told AFP.
The port disaster, which the authorities admit to the unsafe storage of large quantities of ammonium nitrate, left more than 200 dead and devastated entire districts of the capital, damaging or destroying 70,000 residential units , according to the UN.
Winter rains could finish off these rickety structures.
“This is our heritage, our heritage. It is such a shame that it is destroyed in this way, ”regrets Carla, 52, who grew up near the Rmeil 24 building.
Too late
Almost abandoned for more than 40 years, the building still housed on the ground floor the Hanna Mitri boutique, one of the most famous artisan ice cream parlors in the Lebanese capital.
Popular with tourists and locals alike, this traditional brand had to relocate after the ceiling collapsed as a result of the explosion.
The strong bad weather Thursday evening widened the “cavities of the roofs” causing a “partial destruction” of the building, explains to AFP the architect Yasmine Macaron, member of the Association for the protection of sites and ancient residences in Lebanon (APSAD ).
“We had ten days of calm and sunshine. We could have started the first rescue actions and probably could have saved it partially ”if the owner had not been slow to give the green light to the consolidation work, says the architect.
Faced with an unprecedented economic crisis, the Lebanese state relies more than ever on external funding to save its heritage.
But donors, led by France, have pledged to bypass public institutions, accused of corruption and incompetence.
Aid, transferred to local NGOs, is trickling in and is insufficient, even disappointing, deplores Mr. Mortada. And “as a ministry, we suffer from a lack of capacity”, especially in terms of human resources, he admits.
“Turn to God”
In the disaster area of Gemmayzé, located not far from the site of the explosion, trucks loaded with aluminum panels cross a street swarmed with buildings in ruins.
Here, the workers outnumber the pedestrians who hurry past flickering structures.
Posted in front of a highly publicized building in September, because a team of Chilean rescuers had believed to detect a sign of life under the rubble, the workers set about clearing the rubble.
The torrential rains have dealt him the final blow.
A few kilometers away, the working-class district of Karantina is now a very high risk area.
Blown away by the explosion, some buildings barely stand. On Wednesday, one of them collapsed due to bad weather.
Two days later, volunteers from a local charity were working to dislodge large concrete blocks washed up on the ground.
Police officers dispatched to the scene observed workers fortifying the walls of another building hit hard by the explosion.
The area was cordoned off with yellow and red ribbons, while signs placed at the entrances to buildings warn passers-by against a possible collapse.
With tears in his eyes, a Syrian refugee who requested anonymity mourns the loss of his apartment. ” There is nothing to say. We can only turn to God. “