TUESDAY December 15, 2020: 'STATE OF COLLAPSE' from ZUMA Press award winning photographer Marwan Naamani of dpa in Beirut: Lebanon has spent the past year moving from one crisis to the next. It's been just over four months since a pair of explosions ripped through Beirut, leaving the city reeling. The government resigned after waves of public indignation at the negligence that led to the blast. The explosion that destroyed Beirut's port and wrecked large parts of the capital and came at a time when the country was reeling under a crippling economic crisis amid the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The explosion killed at least 204 people and injured more than 6,500. With no support from the government, a collapsed economy that has made financial hardship a normal part of life, and a spike in coronavirus cases that has overloaded hospitals, the Lebanese have been left to fend for themselves. The World Bank, the UN and the EU recently announced a humanitarian fund for the reconstruction of Lebanon. Welcome to: 'STATE OF COLLAPSE'
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #766: TUESDAY December 15, 2020: 'STATE OF COLLAPSE' from ZUMA Press award winning photographer Marwan Naamani of dpa in Beirut: Lebanon has spent the past year moving from one crisis to the next. It's been just over four months since a pair of explosions ripped through Beirut, leaving the city reeling. The government resigned after waves of public indignation at the negligence that led to the blast. The explosion that destroyed Beirut's port and wrecked large parts of the capital and came at a time when the country was reeling under a crippling economic crisis amid the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The explosion killed at least 204 people and injured more than 6,500. With no support from the government, a collapsed economy that has made financial hardship a normal part of life, and a spike in coronavirus cases that has overloaded hospitals, the Lebanese have been left to fend for themselves. The World Bank, the UN and the EU recently announced a humanitarian fund for the reconstruction of Lebanon. Welcome to: 'STATE OF COLLAPSE'
A Pro-Iranian Hezbollah supporter chants anti-US slogans during a demonstration against the visit of Commander of the US Army Central Command, Kenneth Franklin McKenzie to Lebanon, at the highway of Rafic Hariri international airport.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
A demonstrator burns printed copies of US currency during a demonstration against what the protestors called Washington's 'meddling' in Lebanese affairs, near the US embassy in Awkar, north of Beirut. Dozens of followers of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its allies staged an anti-US protest near the US embassy.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
A masked demonstrator blocks the main road in Ouzai, south of Beirut by burning tyres during an anti-government protest. The protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and international phone calls.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
A military helicopter tries to put out a fire at the site of the massive explosion in Beirut's port. Ammonium nitrate stored at the port exploded, causing at least 204 deaths, 6,500 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
A man carries away a bloodied injured person following the massive explosion in Beirut's port that rocked the whole city.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
Lebanese people leave their homes with whatever belongings they can carry in Achrafieh area. Due to heavy damage from the massive explosion at Beiruts seaport they had to evacuate.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
Russian medics check the wounds of HUSSEIN, a six-year-old Syrian boy, who was injured by shattered glass during the explosion, at a Russian field hospital in Beirut. Aid has been pouring from around the world with several countries sending medical assistance, setting up field hospitals and sending rescue teams to help the local authorities cope with the aftermath the explosion.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
ROSALINE BAZJIAN (C) sister of nurse Jessica Bazjian, who was killed during the massive Beirut port explosion, mourns over Bazjian's coffin during her funeral in the area of Zalqa, north of Beirut.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
''My Government Did This'' is seen written on a wall at the site of the massive Beirut port explosion which killed at least 204, wounded 6,500 and displaced some 300,000 people.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
Anti-government activists carry local heroic firefighters on their shoulders during a ceremony to commemorate the victims of the massive Beirut's port explosion.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
A masked and armed Lebanese army soldier secures ground zero of the Beirut sea port massive explosion.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
ROLA MLAHI (L), mother of the late firefighter Ralph Mlahi, who was killed during the massive Beirut port explosion, and sister JESSI MLAHI, mourn during the funeral.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
Lebanese Father MICHEL ABOUD, prays during an open-air mass near the site of Beirut's deadly port explosion.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
BAHIA AL-HARIRI, sister of assassinated Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, weeps as she prays at the tomb of her brother in Beirut following the announcement of the UN backed tribunal that convicted a member of pro-Iranian member of Hezbollah of conspiring to kill Hariri in the 2005 bombing.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
Kenyan domestic workers and their children gather outside the Kenyan consulate in Beirut to finalize their documentation so that they can return home. Thousands of foreign workers in Lebanon, some without legal documentation, are out of work amid the country's dire economic situation, and remain stranded amid border closures as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19 ) pandemic. Additionally, their plight has worsened by the impact of the August 4, explosion at the Beirut sea port.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
Surrounded by armed security, Director General of UNESCO AUDREY AZOULAY looks at destroyed buildings as she stands on the rooftop of a local school, located at the devastated area of Gemmayzeh, which was heavily damaged in the deadly Beirut seaport explosion.
© Marwan Naamani/DPA via ZUMA Press
Relatives of victims of Beirut's deadly port explosion light candles during a memorial vigil to mark one month since the disaster.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
Lebanese people release balloons bearing the names of the victims of the August 4 deadly port blast during a ceremony held to mark the two-month anniversary of the explosion that killed over 200 people and injured 6,500 others.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
LINA BOUBIS, 60-year-old, dubbed as the mother of the revolution, wears a face mask with the colors of the Lebanese flag, while working on distributing parcels of food for needy people at a warehouse in Beirut. In October 2019 thousands of people in Lebanon took to the streets to protest new taxes and widespread corruption among the ruling class, leaving the country paralyzed by a deep economic and political crisis.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
Anti-government activists gather near an memorial torch lit at site of the August 4 deadly Beirut port blast during a march to mark the first anniversary of the protests against the economic situation and political impasse in the country.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
An anti-government activist shows her hand covered with red paint as symbol of blood during an all female protest near the house of the Lebanese Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri demanding a new government be formed with early parliamentary elections.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
The Revolution fist which is a symbol of the 2019 October uprising at Martyrs' Square in Beirut. Later in the evening it was set on fire amid clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
Flames rise from the Revolution fist, after it was set on fire during clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri at Martyrs' Square.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
SAAD HARIRI (L) arrives at the Baabda Presidential Palace to be renamed as Lebanon's Prime Minister (his fourth as premier) as Lebanon reels from its months of political paralysis, its worst financial crisis in decades, the coronavirus pandemic, and the aftermath of the deadly August 4 explosion at the port of Beirut. He is the second son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
An anti-government activist sets a tire on fire to block a street in Beirut during a protest after the government announces al-Hariri Prime Minister for the fourth time.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
A United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) military vehicle crosses a Lebanese army checkpoint at the village of Naqura, where a Lebanese military delegation will meet their Israeli counterpart at the second round of UN-coordinated talks over the maritime and land border demarcation.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
A Syrian refugee woman sits in the sun outside her tent at al-Fares camp in Lebanon's Bekaa valley. Syrian President Assad accused Western countries and neighboring Turkey of blocking the return of millions of refugees to the war-torn country.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
Two medics wearing full PPE protective gear attend to a patient suffering from complications resulting from contracting coronavirus at the intensive care unit of the Rafic Hariri Hospital. The capacity in Beirut hospitals has reached its maximum saturation amid an influx of Covid-19 patients. Lebanon started a new two-week long lockdown in an attempt to stop the surge.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
A medic wearing full protective PPE gear is seen inside an emergency room at the Rafic Hariri Hospital. The capacity in Beirut hospitals has reached its maximum saturation amid an influx of coronavirus patients.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press
