In a blast-damaged tailor shop in the Lebanese capital, Claudette is back at work sewing the hem of an orange skirt as rescue teams …
In a blast-damaged tailor shop in the Lebanese capital, Claudette is back at work sewing the hem of an orange skirt as rescue teams dig nearby. «The explosion destroyed everything here, but I decided to return to work, because I have no choice,» said the 60-year-old seamstress in the Gemmayzeh neighbourhood. The area was among the hardest hit by the deadly August 4 blast at nearby Beirut port that ravaged swathes of the capital and piled on new misery for Lebanese already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. Rescue workers resumed a search for possible survivors under the rubble on Friday buoyed by faint hopes of a miracle after scanners detected a pulse. A sniffer dog used by Chilean rescuers on Wednesday night responded to a scent from the site of a collapsed building in Gemmayzeh, the city’s governor Marwan Abboud told reporters at the scene. One month on, seven people are still posted as missing. A total of 191 have been confirmed killed in Lebanon’s deadliest peacetime disaster. In Gemmayzeh, life is trickling back as an army of volunteers sweep away debris and workmen carry out repairs. Claudette is among a handful of store owners trying to pick up where they had left off.
