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Beirut (AFP)
On Saturday, rescue teams continue for the third day in a row, searching for a possible survivor under the rubble of the Palmyra building, as a result of the explosion that occurred a month ago in the port of Beirut, despite “little hope”, according to the Defense Lebanese civilian.
A Chilean rescue team, who recently arrived in Beirut, through sophisticated thermal devices, “heartbeat”, as local officials said a few days ago, under the rubble of a building on Mar Mikhael Street, a trained dog that accompanied.
“Search operations have been carried out since the day before yesterday, but the possibility is very small,” Lebanese Civil Defense operations director George Abu Moussa told AFP, indicating that most of the work has been completed and ” nothing has come up so far. “
Although it was almost impossible to have life a month after the explosion, the news that a person could be found alive revived the hopes of many, and then gradually diminished, with no indicators of life detected.
“There is only 2 percent hope,” Walter Muñoz of the Chilean relief team told reporters.
“We will not leave the site until we finish and search under all the rubble, although the building is threatened with collapse,” said Qasim Khater, a civil defense volunteer at the site, noting that operations are concentrated today on the building’s stairs. destroyed.
According to residents of the neighborhood, the upper floors of the building, which had a bar on its ground floor, were turned into a pile of rubble in the aftermath of the August 4 explosion, which made searches require high skill and precision.
Lebanon does not have disaster management teams or advanced technical capabilities. Several countries rushed to send relief teams and technical assistance to help him after the explosion.
The explosion killed 191 people, injured more than 6,500 and displaced 300,000 people, and their homes were damaged or destroyed. Official estimates indicate that at least seven are still missing.
The World Bank estimated the damage and economic losses resulting from the explosion at between $ 6.7 billion and $ 8.1 billion. The affected neighborhoods continue to try to heal their wounds. Volunteers, students and NGOs are working like a hive to help residents repair their homes and distribute the aid that has come in from around the world.
© 2020 AFP
