One Week On, Beirut's Small Businesses Are On The Brink

Seven days after the explosion that decimated the port area in Beirut, the country is counting the costs of the blast, and organisations, like Mercy Corps, are urgently working to help those affected. 

Mercy Corps Director in Lebanon, Rafael Velasquez, says: 

“One week on from the blast, our teams are working urgently to support families whose livelihoods are at risk of being destroyed. Small and medium sized shops account for 97% of the total number of private enterprises in Lebanon and all of the shops within the blast radius have been affected.  

These shops provide a lifeline for local and vulnerable communities in Beirut and are crucial to the economic activity of the city. Some shops have lost their doors, windows and their ceilings are falling apart, they are not just a hazard but more than 50% of livelihoods depend on them. 

If we do not prevent these shops from shutting down, the shop owners and those employed will have no place to stay and no income to survive. Lebanon is already the first Middle East country in history to be experiencing hyperinflation, and if we don’t help these devastated neighbourhoods return to some sense of normalcy, we anticipate further economic hardship.”