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Beirut blasts heap fresh woes on deeper Lebanon crisis

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For the Lebanese people, who have watched helplessly as their economy has collapsed in recent months, the devastating explosion in Beirut is one disaster too …
For the Lebanese people, who have watched helplessly as their economy has collapsed in recent months, the devastating explosion in Beirut is one disaster too many. The deadly blasts struck at a time when Lebanon’s currency has plummeted against the dollar, businesses have closed en masse and poverty has soared at the same alarming rate as unemployment. «It’s an earthquake,» said Kamel Mohanna, founder of the Amel Association International charity founded during the 1975-1990 civil war. «I’ve been working in humanitarian aid in Lebanon for 47 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,» he said as hospitals were overflowing with wounded and the capital was reeling in shock. For months already, many Lebanese struggling in the country’s worst economic crisis in decades have turned to charities once largely dedicated to the nearly two million Syrian and Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. The disaster damage bill for an indebted country that was already asking for help from international donors is expected to range between $3.0 billion and $5.0 billion JOSEPH EID, AFP Amid the economic turmoil, cash shortages, pandemic and street protests, Lebanon’s middle class — teachers, civil servants, nurses — have already seen their lives turned upside down. Now, after Tuesday’s massive explosions at Beirut’s port which killed more than 100 people and wounded thousands, officials estimate that an additional 300,000 Beirut residents will be left homeless. And the disaster damage bill for an indebted country that was already asking for help from international donors is expected to range between $3.0 billion and $5.0 billion dollars. — ‘Asking for alms’ — A Lebanese man looks at his empty refrigerator in the capital Beirut in a picture from June.

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