The Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) at the heart of the international response after Beirut port explosion

Date de publication:

Lundi 27 Septembre 2021 - 11:30

Publié ici :

27 Septembre 2021

Mis à jour le :

05 Octobre 2021

Langue de publication:

Français et Anglais

Zone géographique:

Moyen-Orient

Source:

http://oai.openedition.org/?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=oai_dc&set=blogs:ifpo

Already battered by the political and financial crisis and heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Lebanon saw its situation worsen on 4 August 2020 with the terrible explosion of an ammonium phosphate warehouse in the port of Beirut. The blast devastated a large part of the city. The damage was considerable and there were many victims. Obviously, the worst-affected areas are those around the port, in the centre of the city, and therefore the oldest districts, where there are buildings from the Ottoman and French Mandate periods.

The Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA) reacted very quickly to establish an inventory of the situation, drawn up by architects and heritage engineers who spontaneously and voluntarily offered their services. Nearly 80 professionals came together to form a collective they called Beirut Built Heritage Rescue (BBHR). They surveyed the devastated districts, enabling the DGA to publish a 53-pages report on 10 August presenting the Beirut Assist Cultural Heritage (BACH) programme, itemising the work to be done and the estimated cost.

As with any disaster, this one triggered the rapid intervention of a large number of local associations and groups (and, more slowly, that of international organisations) that raised financial support. It would be futile to try to mention them all but, in this emergency phase, on the fringes of the services of a failing state, the roles of the National Heritage Foundation – created to support the National Museum – and of the Association for the Protection of Sites and Ancient Dwellings (APSAD), should be highlighted. So, too, should the very quick and effective intervention of the Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), as well as that of associations such as Monumenta Orientalia, BlueShield, Biladi, and many others, some of which have grouped together to form a collective called Beirut Heritage Initiative (BHI). The associations of architects and urban planners, together with the country’s schools of architecture, collectively drafted and circulated the « Beirut Declaration » in October, setting out the issues and objectives for a plan to rehabilitate and revitalise the devastated districts (http://tousurbains.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/De%CC%81claration-Urbai... Beyrouth-FINAL-FR.pdf).

The Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo / USR 3135) was involved in this initial rapid response effort.

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The Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) at the heart of the international response after Beirut port explosion

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The Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) at the heart of the international response after Beirut port explosion

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Source:

Visiter le site web

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