![People clean up after a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 5. The blast rocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors as a giant mushroom cloud rose above the capital. Witnesses saw many people injured by flying glass and debris. [Hassan Ammar / AP]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c79cb1c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/840x560!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F8%2F05%2FAP_20218606195975.jpg)
A massive explosion in Beirut Tuesday caused widespread damage throughout the city and Cleveland’s Lebanese community is coming together to assist recovery efforts there.
The explosion, which leveled buildings and injured thousands in Beirut, came as a devastating shock to the Northeast Ohio Lebanese community, said Pierre Bejjani, president of the Cleveland American Middle East Organization (CAMEO) and chairman of the American Lebanese Community Council of Northern Ohio.
“Between yesterday and this morning, I tell you, it’s like we’re in busy mode,” Bejjani said. “We couldn’t really absorb what happened. It just was a devastating moment for all of us.”
Leaders in the extensive local Lebanese American community are now looking into ways to supply aid to Beirut, Bejjani said, and Cleveland officials and other community leaders have reached out to the council offer support.
“I am very grateful to feel that love and that support from the community at large, and yes, we are in the process of putting something together,” Bejjani said.
Local leaders will meet Thursday to organize efforts and create a plan, he said.
“We are in the process of gathering ourselves to put ourselves together and create a help mechanism for Lebanon,” Bejjani said.
That includes potentially reaching out to the Lebanese Red Cross to offer financial and medical support, Bejjani said, as the explosion impacted hospitals in the area.
“Thank God my family is okay. Some other people, friends from this community, have family and they’re okay. But there's a lot of other families that got really hurt and devastated by this explosion,” Bejjani said. “A very, very heart-aching situation to see all these dead and injured in Lebanon.”
Bejjani also would like to see additional support from the United States, he said, not just from the Lebanese community.
“I would like to see the U.S. and the United Nations to take charge of this investigation of what happened, and how did it happen,” he said.
