Metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch for the Archdiocese of Beirut, Elias Audi, warned on Sunday residents living in disaster-stricken areas affected by the August 4 explosion, from falling victims to some real estate agents asking to buy their properties.
“I call on residents to withstand in their homes,” the bishop said Sunday.
Some 300,000 people were displaced when the explosion damaged or destroyed their homes, killing more than 178 people and injuring 6,000 more. The blast demolished entire neighborhoods of Lebanon’s capital in seconds.
Audi’s warnings came in light of recent reports saying mysterious buyers were offering to buy broken homes in the traditional neighborhoods of Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhael, and Ashrafieh for a compelling sum of money.
The complaints drove Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni to issue a decree last week for preventing the sale of any historic building without getting permission from the ministry of culture. The Finance Ministry said in a statement that the move aims to prevent any “exploitation.”
Also, Caretaker Culture Minister Abbas Murtada said no damaged houses could be sold or registered without being fully renovated and without getting the approval of the ministry.
Audi said: “It is necessary to warn residents not to fall victim to real estate agents and financiers swooping on people’s properties and trying to benefit from their woes by offering money in return of their houses.”
He called on residents of Ashrafieh and nearby neighborhoods not to fall into this trap and to preserve their homes.
“We will cooperate all together to emerge from this crisis,” he said.
For his part, Lebanese Deputy Hagop Terzian called on caretaker Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm to issue a decree preventing notaries from registering any transactions related to the selling of houses damaged by the Beirut port explosion.
