Lessons from the Port of Beirut explosion in August 2020

15/04/2021

During April 2021, Groupe URD was involved in several events aimed at highlighting the lessons learned from the response following the explosion that devastated the Port of Beirut on 4 August 2020.

Several sessions were organised as part of the webinar on limiting risks related to chemical substances. Experiences were shared from different countries and disasters in the presence of the EU Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence Initiative and representatives of African countries (Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia and the Seychelles). Groupe URD presented the findings of the real-time evaluation that we carried out in Beirut in August shortly after the explosion.

We also presented these findings during a series of experience-sharing exercises with international NGOs based in Lebanon, with Dutch organisations during a workshop organised by the KUNO platform (the Platform for Humanitarian Knowledge Exchange in the Netherlands), and with the NGO, Save the Children.