Dear Friends of BAS,
Thank you for all the kind inquiries and wishes for our safety and well-being. We are all grieving the tragic incident that shook our beloved city of Beirut. The people in Lebanon, of all nationalities and affiliations, are grief-stricken and heartbroken. While we are grateful that damage affecting our BAS family was restricted to material losses, our hearts and prayers go to the families of the martyrs, the wounded, and the missing.
The blast that hit our Beirut has compounded the dark days we are already living. The pandemic, the environmental pollution, the chaos, the economic and the political upheavals, have stormed Lebanon all at once - a strike that the fumbling country cannot absorb. As we write to you, people are still under the shock of yesterday's explosion, scavenging the rubbles in search of their beloved. The scene is far more horrific on the ground than is being portrayed in the media. Vibrant Beirut turned into a ghost city with only debris and shattered glass on its streets at night. Neighbourhoods are destroyed. Many homes are evacuated as they are in danger of collapsing. The explosion did not spare lives or property, hospitals included, adding to the misery, poverty, and devastation that existed before.
During these difficult times, we continue to offer psychosocial support to people in our camps and their surroundings, adding to the numbers of refugees the numbers of the internally-displaced.
We’ve stood strong in the face of massacres and wars of all types in Lebanon before. Now, we must stand as strong in solidarity with Beirut, the Lebanese people, and all people who made this beautiful country their second home.
Thank you for your compassion and for modelling humanism that knows no boundaries or barriers.
Sincerely,
Kassem Aina
General Director
NISCVT