The Port of Beirut explosions (4 August 2020) resulted in extensive damage on multiple levels – the loss of life, injury and the destruction of vast tracts of urban fabric within the municipal boundaries of Beirut and Bourj Hammoud. In support of the Municipality of Bourj Hammoud, UN-Habitat together with the Polish Center for International Aid, Naba’a and Beirut Arab University, undertook a rapid damage assessment at the building level (exterior visual survey).

The assessment covered all building types, dividing them into four categories (unsafe / evacuate, restricted use, safe / minor damage and not affected) in order to understand the extent of damage, particularly structural impacts, as well as immediately identifying buildings at risk of collapse and in need of evacuation. The assessment provides a basis on which to formulate recovery and reconstruction measures, with regards to building damage rehabilitation.

The Port of Beirut explosions (4 August 2020) resulted in extensive damage on multiple levels – the loss of life, injury and the destruction of vast tracts of urban fabric within the municipal boundaries of Beirut and Bourj Hammoud. Led by the Municipality and Governor of Beirut, UN-Habitat supported a rapid damage assessment at the building level (exterior visual survey).

The assessment covered all building types within an immediate 2km radius of the last, dividing them into four categories (total collapse, unsafe / evacuate, restricted use, safe/minor damage, unclassified) in order to understand the extent of damage, particularly structural impacts, as well as immediately identifying buildings at risk of collapse and in need of evacuation. The assessment provides a basis on which to formulate recovery and reconstruction measures, with regards to building damage rehabilitation.

The “Housing, Land and Property Issues of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon from Homs City” project was launched in 2017 in partnership with UNHCR and with the support of the Ford Foundation. The aim of the study is to analyze the housing arrangements that refugees coming from Homs city have secured, seven years into the crisis, in addition to their living conditions, the implications of their legal status on their presence in Lebanon, and the role/influence of social networks - characteristic of this community coming from the city of Homs - on their access to shelter and trajectories. The project contributes to the knowledge about refugee trajectories in the context of a protracted refugee crisis particularly in relation to shelter acquisition. The results reported in this study can promote public awareness about the implications of the absence of affordable housing programs and the current restrictions that refugees in Lebanon face to access adequate shelter. They can further inform policymakers and other actors in the shelter sector about the current operations of the housing market.

Partners: UN-Habitat and UNHCR

Locations: Lebanon, Syrian Arab Republic, Homs

Donors: Ford Foundation