More than three months after the Beirut Port explosion, the affected residents in the surrounding areas are complaining that they have not received any compensation from the state to help them repair their houses.
While many resorted to charities and NGOs offering assistance, others starting fixing their homes at their own expense ahead of winter.
The Lebanese army has recently began distributing compensation from the state, within a specific framework, said Brigadier General Sami Howayek from the Joint Operations for Disaster Recovery Command Center.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Howayek revealed that the army “started distributing financial compensation about a week ago, which will cover about 10,000 housing units, equivalent to approximately 17 percent of the number of damaged units.”
He explained that a survey of the affected areas determined the number of damaged units at 62,087 houses, 14,848 stores and 5,251 commercial companies, in addition to a number of educational institutions, places of worship, hotels, restaurants and others.
According to Howayek, the total value of compensation earmarked to those affected by the Aug. 4 explosion amounts to 100 billion Lebanese pounds (66 million dollars according to the official exchange rate, and a little more than a million at the parallel market rate).
The amount was transferred from the High Relief Commission to the Army Treasury, based on the decision of caretaker Prime Hassan Diab.
He added that army teams would conduct field visits to inspect the repair works.
Meanwhile, a number of citizens, whose houses were damaged by the explosion, are complaining about the large number of associations and agencies that visited them to assess the damage, without these associations returning to compensate for their losses.
“Some bodies, including international associations and organizations, recently started repairing a number of damaged homes and paying sums of money to the citizens,” Howayek said.
He emphasized that the army, through its constant contact with the associations, was seeking to “control their work as much as possible,” and was also asking citizens to “inform them of any suspected association to pursue it according to the laws in force, especially if it was not registered with the Ministry of Interior.”
