How Beirut’s face changed after the port explosion – BBC News Arabic

Several employees of the official establishment lost their lives that day inside the company building, which is a few hundred meters from the port.

The building that hosts the Im Nazih Café in Gemmayzeh was also one of the most damaged in the explosion. The cafe workers were seriously injured, according to the owner, Mac McClinahan, an American, in an interview with BBC Arabic.

The cafe opened in the previously abandoned building in 2010, according to McClinahan.

The building was reinforced because it was in danger of collapse. The place is no longer buzzing with the voices of its visitors from early morning until late at night, and the “sweet nights” are no longer.

According to UNESCO, 640 buildings were historically damaged in the explosion, about 60 of them were in danger of collapsing. The organization has pledged to lead international restoration efforts and has estimated the total cost of the restoration at $300 million.

The Blue House, which once hosted the Italian restaurant, Appetito Trattoria, has had its part in the reconstruction effort.

The devastation caused by the harbor explosion in 2020 was not the only reason that changed the face of Beirut. Rather, the economic crisis that began to appear in the open in late 2019, had an impact on the change of the city.

Paradoxically, the most deserted area in Beirut today is downtown.

The story of people leaving the downtown area of ​​Beirut, which hosts cafes, restaurants, and luxury stores, began in 2015, primarily due to successive political crises, the absence of tourists, and the demonstrations sparked by a major waste crisis nationwide at that time.

The area hosts the Lebanese Parliament building, the Prime Ministry building, Martyrs Square and Riad al-Solh, where protests and demands are usually held.

After the start of the economic crisis in 2019 and the movement of tens of thousands in the streets of the city center, the Lebanese authorities brought in giant cement walls to prevent protesters from reaching the parliament and the prime minister’s headquarters. These walls were not raised until late May.

All that was left of the cafes and restaurants in Nejmeh Square, which was once bustling with people, tourists, and children, were subsequently closed.

From the “darkness” of Beirut, security, economic and political, we move to darkness in the literal sense of the word.

Lebanon has long suffered from electricity rationing, but the situation has become very bad since late 2020, with the state’s inability to secure the money needed to purchase fuel and operate electricity supply stations.

The bad economic and living situation and the lack of electricity have greatly affected the daily lives of the Lebanese people.

With electricity only available for an hour or two out of the 24 hours of the day in many Lebanese regions in the recent period, the Lebanese people’s dependence on private generators has become greater. However, the consequent costs, and the shortage of diesel fuel, in turn led to a rationing of the feeding hours provided by generator owners. Houses, squares and streets remained without lights.

The city’s few free public spaces were not spared the darkness.

A few steps away from where the above two photos were taken on Beirut’s Corniche, it’s getting pitch black and blurry.

We asked a pedestrian why he still visits the Corniche in complete darkness. Maher told BBC Arabic, that the Corniche “is the only outlet for people in a city located on the sea, and its residents do not see its sea except when they go to the Corniche.”

The young man in his twenties adds that all places are already dark, and that he feels some comfort when he sees “the lights of the boats in the sea.”

Maher concludes his speech to BBC Arabic, saying: “If people stay in their darkened homes, it will increase the feeling of depression” among the country’s population.

Both Ali and Sarah, a married couple who came from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to visit Lebanon with their child, who is only a few years old, said that they had visited Lebanon 4 years ago, “but the situation was not the same.”

In his interview with BBC Arabic, Ali indicated that he was discussing the issue of darkness and absence of lights with his wife before we stopped them for an interview.

“There were lights and life,” Sarah said. “There is no life now. But the people are still trying.”

So, despite the destruction of the city and the poor economic situation, the Lebanese are still clinging to life, or at least, trying to do so, hoping that one day they will find the light at the end of the tunnel.

This photo report was produced by Danny Abi Khalil and the BBC’s Visual Journalism team.