Beirut blast: EU offers full support to Lebanon and the Lebanese people

05.08.2020

Following the devastating explosions in Beirut on August 4, with many victims and injured, the European Union expresses its full solidarity with and support for the families of the victims, the Lebanese people and authorities.

Following the devastating explosions in Beirut on August 4, with many victims and injured, the European Union expresses its full solidarity with and support for the families of the victims, the Lebanese people and authorities.

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The European Union has mobilised €33 million to respond to the most urgent needs of Lebanon and to provide required assistance after these grave events and pledged an extra €30 million at the International conference on assistance and support to Beirut and the Lebanese people on August 9.

As an immediate first response and upon request of the Lebanese authorities, the European Union had activated all its emergency mechanisms and worked with its Member States to provide support as rapidly as possible.

The EU and its Member States have now deployed about 300 highly trained experts through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, including search and rescue, chemical assessment and medical teams. We are providing in-kind assistance consisting of urgently medical equipment and supplies, chemical protection suits. A military vessel with helicopter capacity for medical evacuation, and medical and protective equipment was also deployed. In addition, the ERCC has triggered the Copernicus Satellite Mapping service to support local authorities, for the production of satellite maps in rapid mapping mode.

On August 8, the President of the European Council Charles Michel travelled to Beirut where he visited the port to witness the scale of the disaster and met with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Hassan Diab to convey the EU’s full solidarity with the people in Lebanon.

In a phone call on August 5 with Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe, HR/VP Josep Borrell stressed  the EU’s support to help Lebanon and he said: “This tragic moment for Lebanon should be the occasion to unite all political forces around a national effort to respond to the many challenges the country is facing. The European Union will remain firmly at the side of Lebanon and the Lebanese people in this effort.”

The High Representative also underlined the importance that the European Union attaches to the unity and stability of Lebanon, which are all the more important today, both internally and for the region.