UN-Habitat presents the building-level Rapid Damage Assessment at a conference in Bourj Hammoud
Bourj Hammoud, 23 September 2020. The Municipality of Bourj Hammoud organized a meeting at the Yertcho Samuelian Hall in the Orthodox Armenian Prelacy in Bourj Hammoud, to present initiatives and measures undertaken by a number of actors in response to the devastating Beirut Port explosions, as well as to brief the public and other stakeholders about the plans for the ongoing response.
“Since the explosions, the Municipality of Bourj Hammoud supported relief work, removal of rubble and maintenance of security, in cooperation with the residents despite our limited resources, and more than 50 days later, it is now imperative to move to the implementation stage as we pledge to revive the area and its people”, said Mardig Boghossian, Mayor of Bourj Hammoud in the opening statement.
Interventions included a presentation on the “Forward Emergency Room (FER)’s measures and plans”, by Brigadier General Sami Hoayeck, Chief of FER, an “Overview of the Humanitarian Flash Appeal”, by Severine Rey, Head of Office at UN OCHA Lebanon and the “Shelter Sector response to the blast”, by Maha El Ayoubi from NRC and Mohammad Moukalled from UNHCR.
“The rapid building-level damage assessment conducted by Municipality of Bourj Hammoud, facilitated by UN-Habitat and other partners, will inform the prioritization of interventions by partners by highlighting the most affected areas of Bourj Hammoud municipal boundaries,” said Wael Sinno, Beirut and Mount Lebanon Area Coordinator at UN-Habitat Lebanon.
The conference was attended by national and local authorities representatives, army officers from the FER, UN agencies and programmes country representatives including UN-Habitat Head of Country Programme in Lebanon Taina Christiansen and representatives of the civic society and local and international NGOs.
