Lebanon’s enduring economic crisis risks reversing decades of gains in people’s wellbeing, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.    

Reliable fuel and electricity supply are urgently needed in Lebanon to avert a potential “humanitarian catastrophe”, the top UN aid official in the country warned on Tuesday. 

On August 4th, 2020, a devastating blast in a warehouse destroyed much of the centre of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Many neighbourhoods were destroyed, downtown Beirut looked like a war zone. Thousands were injured and some 200 people tragically lost their lives on that day and the days that followed. For many, their property and livelihoods were literally blown away.

Five months on from the devastating port explosion that killed over 200 people, and injured thousands more, the UN has invited Beirut residents to share their hopes and fears for the future of the city, and for Lebanon, which remains in crisis.