Amid wreckage left by blast, Lebanese help one another

BEIRUT — In the southern Lebanese town of Haris, a newlywed couple are living in one of Safy Faqeeh’s apartments for free. He’s never met them before, and they aren’t on a honeymoon. Their apartment in Beirut was wrecked when this month’s massive explosion wreaked destruction across the capital.

Faqeeh is one of hundreds of Lebanese who have opened their homes to survivors of the Aug. 4 blast.

The explosion, which was centered on Beirut’s port and ripped across the capital, left around a quarter of a million people with homes unfit to live in. But they have not had to crowd into collective shelters or sleep in public parks.

That’s because Lebanese have stepped up to help one another.

Some have let relatives, friends and neighbors stay with them. Others like Faqeeh extended a helping hand even further, taking to social media to spread the word that they have a room to host people free of charge.

The couple saw Faqeeh’s offer on Facebook for a free apartment he owns in Haris, some 50 miles south of Beirut. They can stay as long as they need to, the 29-year-old Faqeeh said, and he has a second apartment available for anyone else in need. “This is not help; it is a duty,” he said.

When he was a teenager, Faqeeh’s family home was damaged in the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, and they had to stay in a house in Tripoli, clear on the other end of Lebanon. Now he’s paying it forward.

The help that Lebanese are giving goes beyond a place to stay. Armed with helmets and brooms, hundreds of volunteers have circulated through Beirut’s heavily damaged neighborhoods, cleaning up people’s homes and doing free basic repairs, often enough to enable the residents to stay there.

The list of services people are offering keeps expanding. It now includes free glass for cars damaged in the blast, free maintenance of electrical appliances and free cosmetic surgery for people with face injuries. On Facebook, a group called Rebuild Beirut quickly sprung up. Its volunteers are working at full speed, helping clean up homes and link survivors with donors who will cover the expenses of repairs.

HUSSEIN MALLA / ASSOCIATED PRESS People who volunteered to help clean damaged homes and give other assistance gather Tuesday on a street that was damaged by the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut, where it was young volunteers with brooms and shovels, not government workers, who cleared the littered streets.