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Faten Hajj wrote in “Al Akhbar”:
“Verify the structural safety of the facility affected by the Beirut port explosion to preserve the safety of people and public safety” was the main starting point of the field study carried out by the Engineering Unions in Beirut and Tripoli, commissioned by the Governor of Beirut, Marwan Abboud, and in coordination with the Municipality of Beirut and the Lebanese Army Emergency Chamber and the Public Effects Directorate.
The survey was carried out in an area of about three square kilometers, from Al-Medawar, Karantina and Al Mirfa, to the districts of Gemmayzah and Al Saifi, passing through Al-Badawi, Mar Mikhael, Rumail, Jeitawi, Al-Hikma and Al-Sarasaqa.
As a result of fieldwork, it was found that of the 2509 buildings surveyed, 323 buildings are at risk of total or partial collapse (12.9 percent), and 254 buildings are subject to separation in their non-structural elements (fall of a balcony or part of the aluminum facade, etc.), that is, a ratio of 10.1 AND 543 buildings have cracks in some of their components that need to be treated (broken glass, thrown doors, etc.), or the 21 , 6%, in addition to 1,389 buildings that are not damaged (55.4%).
The area most affected by the explosion includes 362 buildings of heritage value dating from the 19th century to the 1930s. The explosion affected 92 buildings that are at risk of collapse and are of high and medium danger (25.4 percent), and 270 heritage buildings with no real danger (74.6 percent). Most of these sandstone walls are covered with wooden barracks, brick floors, and al-Baghdadi wooden ceilings painted with ornate stucco.
Architecturally, buildings constructed with reinforced concrete were less damaged than heritage buildings and buildings with glass facades. According to Firas Murtado, head of the College of Specialized Engineers in Urban Planning, the buildings that face the port, that is, the line that connects them with the point of explosion, were more affected by the storm than the buildings that are geographically close.
Mortada explained to “Al-Akhbar” the working methodology in the survey initiated by the Lebanese Union of Engineers (which includes the Engineers Unions of Beirut and Tripoli), through the Public Safety Committee of the Beirut Union and with the support of scientific associations and committees.
From the first moments of the blast, engineers, he said, went to the ground led by their captain, Gad Tabet, to inspect the cracked buildings and help residents of the destroyed neighborhoods. After that, around 1,000 engineers expressed their willingness to volunteer, and some 350 structural and architectural engineers, electrical and mechanical engineers from the Beirut and Tripoli unions were assigned to participate in the survey. An electronic center was created that organized a virtual digital map within an application, through which the electronic survey was conducted in parallel with the written survey in the paper documents used in the surveys, which helped to produce daily and weekly reports of businesses and approve their results with official references as is the case with most agencies interested in statistics after a disaster. Port.
The area surveyed was also divided into 97 positions, and specialized commissions were formed to accompany the work of the commission from the commission and outside it and from the Council of Lawyers in the experiences in the field of analysis and monitoring of information and suggesting the steps necessary for support and opinion in the case of buildings after detection and timely decision-making to serve them. The concerned authorities, especially the Beirut governorate, the Beirut municipality and the army emergency room, were informed of all construction cases that required intervention and posed a threat to public safety. Mortada pointed out that “we have made our data on buildings available to some international institutions that have expressed the desire to restore or house the affected population, and among these organizations: the United Nations Organization for Human Settlements and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. the United Nations for Refugees “.
It is noteworthy what Mortada said in terms of obliging the Union Council to register all restoration permits, so that the permit is signed by an engineer responsible to his union and to the public authorities, provided that this registration is free except for fees of the engineer.
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