The explosion in Beirut, Lebanon has killed over 157 people, while the total number of injured people soared to 5,000, according to data released by Lebanon’s health ministry. The Palestinian and Syrian refugees living in the Lebanese refugee camps offer to give away their houses to the people in need.
The Prime Minister of Lebanon claimed, the explosion occurred because of the more than 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which had been left carelessly at a warehouse near Beirut’s port for six years. The investigations are still ongoing to regulate what caused the explosion.
Kamal, a 28 years old Palestinian refugee who lives in Lebanon was one of the victims of this deadly blast. “I was driving my car back home, 15 minutes away from Beirut, and it felt like a literal earthquake, I lost control of the car for a second. Everybody thought it was a bombing. We only knew what happened when we reached our houses.” Kamal stated while describing the situation to an American News Magazine “The Newsweek.”
As soon as Kamal realized what happened, He came forward to help the victims of the explosion. He immediately took the help of a social media platform to offer anyone displaced by the blast a place to stay at his home. His friends living at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut has also opted to do the same. Meanwhile, the Syrian and Palestinian refugees had also come forward by donating blood, hoping to help the victims of the explosion.
“We haven’t been treated in the best of ways, to say the least, in Lebanon, but, standing by those in need is part of our culture. We know first hand what it means to not be able to sleep under a proper roof at night; we’ve experienced wars one generation after the other; we know how it feels to be scared and hungry with no place to go. So, our instinct is to offer all that we can when we see others going through it,” Kamal stated. Considering, Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita, and these refugees have under high restrictions working, buying property, and accessing health care and other services in the country.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) a humanitarian organization that is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has been working with the Lebanese Red Cross, assisting those affected by the explosion. Numerous of organization has been a part of helping the victims.
