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Recording damage following the Beirut Blast

Without warning, a devastating explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on 4th August 2020. A bustling hub of businesses, cafés, shopping malls and homes became a wasteland of tangled metal, shattered roofs and walls, blown out windows and twisted door frames.  Over 200 people died and thousands were injured. The city’s cultural heritage was also devastated.  Hundreds of 18th and 19th century historic buildings and palaces, as well as museums, libraries, art galleries, and people’s homes were damaged instantly.

Within hours, volunteers joined local NGO Biladi and Blue Shield Lebanon to take part in the rescue effort, helping to clear streets of rubble and broken glass, sweeping up debris and sorting out material that could be salvaged and used during the eventual restoration of historic buildings. With the help of University Museums And Collections, Blue Shield was able to search for, and recruit a team of volunteers, with specific backgrounds in architecture, archaeology, restauration and engineering. The volunteers were trained by Blue Shield on the use of the custom designed digital platform that Biladi and BSI created together with the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative. This online platform was named: “Beirut Blast Damage Assessment”. All volunteers wore protective blue helmets and blue vests to identify them as volunteers for Blue Shield, and completed a mandatory safety check before assessing any building.
 
The platform was divided into two parts: a socio‐economic part and an architectural part. The latter assessed the building details and the damage, whilst the Socio‐Economic Assessment part consisted of an assessment of the resident’s and/or owner’s financial situation. This allowed Blue Shield to list, in order of importance, the urgency and priority according to which the intervention should be the executed. Volunteers were specially trained on interaction with victims during this difficult time; some owners shared their feelings of rage, anger, anxiety and sadness with the volunteers – it was a highly personal issue for many.
Row of men and women in blue hats, blue vests, and masks
Blue Shield Lebanon volunteers working to help secure the museums and libraries in Beirut, after the catastrophic explosion on 4 August 2020 © Blue Shield Lebanon

Blue Shield International (BSI)’s then president, Karl von Habsburg, went straight to Beirut to discuss BSI’s support with the authorities, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). He met with local and international organisations, and with Lebanese Blue Shield National Committee (LBSNC)’s staff and volunteers.

Meanwhile, BSI coordinated the securing of funds from the Prince Claus Fund, ALIPH Foundation, Gerda Henkel Stiftung and the British Council for a three-month emergency safeguarding programme for damaged historic buildings. The work was supported by and carried out in collaboration with Blue Shield Lebanon, Blue Shield International, Directorate-General Of Antiquities of Lebanon, IFLA, ICOM-Lebanon, ICOMOS-Lebanon, Lebanese Library Association, UNESCO Beirut Office, ICOM – University Museums and Collections, Bilad, and UNIFIL.

This system proved invaluable during the weeks that followed the blast as the teams fanned out across devastated areas assessing what materials and other resources would be needed for the recovery effort and talking with owners and residents of damaged buildings. Listening to families’ heart-breaking stories of loss and survival was almost the hardest part of the work for some of the volunteers, but knowing they were doing something positive helped to keep them going. Within days, a Provisional Assessment Report (PAR) photo report CULTURAL HERITAGE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF BEIRUT BLAST. PRELIMINARY REPORT IN PHOTOS of the damage was available. 
With buildings housing museum collections, libraries and archives exposed to the elements, time was of the essence in order to cover gaping holes, secure unstable walls, and clean, wrap and store books and artefacts until such time as sites could be rehabilitated and the items returned.
 
Around 650 buildings were assessed. A summary of the assessments is available in the End of Mission Report. The assessment results (in the report below) were used to select the buildings to secure. The criteria followed was mainly the urgency of the need for securing and the financial means of the owners/tenants. In addition, the assessment also reviewed the relevance of the building to its surrounding and the social fabric it was a part of.

Access the Provisional Assessment Report (PAR) photo report CULTURAL HERITAGE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF BEIRUT BLAST. PRELIMINARY REPORT IN PHOTOS

Access the Emergency response to the Beirut Blast ‐End of mission report‐
Blue Shield Mission August 2020 – November 2020

Download the reports in our Mission Report Library

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