TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The municipalities of Dinnieh worked to reopen villages’ streets by Monday, clearing roads of dirt, stones and even tree trunks that were swept away by floods during the weekend’s storm.
Estimates put the value of losses at more than LL10 billion.
The area’s residents condemned the complete absence of the Lebanese government’s support after what they called a “natural disaster,” with farmers, in particular, expressing their anger and frustration.
Sunday’s visit by Maj. Gen. Mohammad Khair, the head of the Higher Relief Committee, to affected places in the northern region of Akkar failed to make things any better. Khair toured the area with a team of engineers, assessing damage caused by the storm.
Residents are demanding compensation, but Khair announced that the damages had been overestimated and said the HRC would not cover personal losses.
“It’s out of question for the Higher Relief Committee to offer aid to clean houses, depots and stores from the mud that leaked into them, or pay for damaged furniture,” Khair said.
HRC will instead be working on fixing the conduits, passageways and roads that were blocked as a result of the storm, Khair said, adding that municipalities had to help contain the damages to people’s properties and lands.
Khair explained that everything related to public safety would be compensated for, but that any damages resulting from personal negligence would not.
“The committee will, as Prime Minister Tammam Salam said, help citizens to open closed roads, remove encroachments that are dangerous for buildings, restore walls, and rebuild bridges,” he said. “Anything else is out of question.”
Khair added that the body would announce Thursday the preliminary estimates of the damage inflicted on Akkar as a result of the heavy rain, which lashed the entire country Saturday and Sunday.
“The surveying of damage is underway, but I cannot make an appraisal right now. We need an additional 48 hours to make a preliminary estimate,” Khair told The Daily Star.
“There are bridges, houses along with water and electricity networks that were destroyed,” he said.
The mayor of Sir al-Dinnieh, Ahmad Alam, held a news conference on the subject tackling the damages caused by the floods in most of the villages in Dinnieh, as well as the losses inflicted on citizens’ properties and agricultural lands.
Alam also announced that a meeting would be held Wednesday for the Union of Dinnieh Municipalities, threatening that all 24 mayors in the area would resign if the government didn’t address the disaster’s effects in the area.
“Preliminary estimates put the value of losses at more than LL10 billion,” he told The Daily Star.
Dinnieh’s Water Authority repaired the major damages in the main pipelines from Nabeh al-Sekkar to Bqaa Sifrin after a number of failings affected the network.
The mayor of Bqaa Sifrin, Mounir Kange, called the head of the Water Authority in Dinnieh and highlighted the damages that had led to the town’s households being cut off from drinking water.
The company then worked to bring potable water back to the town.
Works are continuing to fix another water pipeline that goes from Nabeh al-Zahlan toward Taran. Repairs are expected to be completed by Tuesday at the latest.
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