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Rajana Hammeh wrote in “Al-Akhbar”: Five months after the explosion, the disaster in the port of Beirut, the rights of those affected remain subject to two issues, one of which is related to the other: the report that is it assumed that the Lebanese state would broadcast as a “repetitive accelerator” to explain the causes of the disaster, the perpetrators and the companies. The insurance that refuses to compensate pending the reason to know whether or not to grant compensation, depending on thecontract.
In the first aspect, the State does not seem aware of the suffering of those affected. After Prime Minister Hassan Diab promised, shortly after the explosion, that the causes of the explosion would be clear in “five days”, five months passed without the state making “sense” or news about it. The bulk of what the latter does is “urge” insurance companies to compensate those affected for “their share of national concern.” As for the insurance companies, they waive any responsibility, under the pretext that the report has not yet been issued. Between this and that, people compensate themselves with their raw flesh, and can only pretend to press for rights that they fear will be lost..
Who is responsible for what happens? The Ministry of Economy and Trade, which acts as the guardian of the insurance companies, does not care about what is happening. Since the moment of the explosion, it has not played any significant role, with the exception of issuing the statements that days ago Minister Raúl “wished” his blessing, that reluctant insurance companies must begin to compensate people, especially in the with regard to the claims of small insurers and those most in need, without waiting. The result of the official report of the forensic investigator.».
In principle, and legally, the Ministry has no authority over insurance companies to force them to pay compensation or not. However, doesn’t an exceptional circumstance of the magnitude of the port explosion require “induction” otherwise? The ministry does not have an answer, simply because the most important role is for the insurance companies. “If you want compensation, you will be compensated, and if you do not respond, you will not be compensated,” according to sources, noting that some companies have begun to compensate those affected, but the total compensation paid so far has reached about 19,000 million pounds, which is a very small percentage when compared to the estimated amount that Approximately 1659 billion lira.
As for the insurance companies, there is another reality in their accounts, since they are based on an obsession with the dollar. She argued that “there is no fresh dollar” and that her money is being held in banks. In the event that the compensation is approved, it is “decided” that there is no place to pay a dollar in cash, and the payment will be “by bank checks”, according to the head of the association of insurance companies, Elie Tarabay, without this eliminating other options “such as car repair in our workshops. ». Tarabay divides the current situation according to each insurance company and its solvency into three categories. Companies that have started to pay severance payments, mostly foreign and with branches in Lebanon, and pay the small severance pay of less than $ 25,000; Companies that link the compensation decision to the issuance of the forensic investigator’s report; And companies that contract with external reinsurers according to agreements, the latter of which “today cannot take the compensatory step, because if it is shown that the explosion is not subject to the terms of the contract, the returnees can demand that the companies return the money”.
This “calculation” leads to the following conclusion: There is no compensation for those affected pending a report that does not appear to be issued soon. What is paid today is paid with bank checks paid on the basis of the price of 3,900 pounds per dollar for those whose compensation is less than 15 thousand dollars. As for those whose interests and homes have been destroyed, they have “the mercy of God”, because the state, which abandoned its responsibilities, established a corrupt system in which it turned the neck of the people over to the insurance companies.
