Xavier Network responds to the Beirut explosion

The Jesuits in Beirut have immediately responded to the massive explosion which shook the city on August 4, 2020. More than 150 people have died, thousands are wounded and over 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. There is massive damage to the infrastructure of the city.

This has been a difficult experience for everyone, but particularly for those who have already fled war and conflict.  JRS social workers and psychologists have already begun hearing these difficulties.  The buildings will be repaired more easily than the human wounds.  The work of accompaniment now will be the long-term healing that is necessary for human flourishing.

– Daniel Corrou SJ, JRS Regional Director

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Lebanon suffered great losses because of the explosion. Schools, the regional and country offices, and a social centre which was only 1.5 km away from the epicentre of the explosion, were all badly damaged. The greatest losses for JRS Lebanon, however, were at the social centre in Burj Hammoud where two beneficiaries of their services died, with one person still missing.

The Xavier Network is responding to this emergency by supporting the Jesuits and JRS teams in Lebanon who are now expanding basic needs distribution and scaling up the ongoing COVID-19 relief.  Access to food, proper hygiene and emergency shelter are all the more critical now in Lebanon.  They are also beginning to look at recovery and reconstruction in the long-term.

Here you have a list of the emergency appeals from the different Xavier Network members:

• Fundação Gonçalo da Silveira (Portugal)
• ENTRECULTURAS (Spain)
• ALBOAN (Spain)
• Canadian Jesuit International (Canada)
• Jesuit Missions UK (Uk)
• Jesuitenmission Germany (Germany)
• Jesuiten Weltweit Switzerland (Switzerland)
• Jesuitenmission Austria (Austria)
• OMCFAA France (France)
• HUBEJE Belgium (Belgium)
• Irish Jesuit Mission (Ireland)
• Jesuit Mission Australia (Australia)
• MAGIS Italy (Italy)