The recent rains in Lebanon forced residents and shop owners in the southern suburb of Beirut to confront another side of the effects of war, after cracks, shattered glass, and damaged entrances turned into outlets for water leakage and air leakage, and some of them were forced to complete restoration work that they had postponed due to cost or fear of renewed confrontations.
Among those who repaired their house at their own expense and the entrance to the building remained cracked, and those who waited before replacing the damaged glass, and those whose capabilities have not yet allowed them to carry out repairs, and those who are still covering the facade of their store with nylon and wood, testimonies from the suburb reveal that returning to homes and shops was not necessarily a return to what they were before the war, and that restoration remained linked to the ability of each family or stakeholder to bear its cost.
Muhammad Nimah told Asharq Al-Awsat that the damage to his house began since the 2024 war, when the glass in the living room was shattered, before it worsened during the last war with the intensification of shelling and explosions near the house.
Nimah says: “In the 2024 war, the glass of the living room in my house in the Al-Jamous area in the southern suburb was damaged, but with the outbreak of the second war, very strong explosions occurred near the house, causing more glass and other parts of the house to be damaged. Then I decided not to start the repair directly, because the situation was not stable, and I was afraid that I would pay the cost of the repair and then the damage would happen again.”
But the recent rains, according to Nehme, decided his decision. He says: “When heavy rain came, along with winds and storms, I could no longer wait, because water began to enter the house from the damaged places. Then I decided to fix what could be fixed at my expense; Because I had to protect the house and make it habitable.”
But the ability to make a similar decision is not available to everyone, especially for families who emerged from the war carrying with them the loss of months of income, in addition to housing, work, and living obligations.
Mahmoud, a taxi driver and father of three children from Haret Hreik, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Until today I have not been able to repair the damage in the house. During the recent rains, water entered the house, and with every wave of rain I fear that this will happen again, but my capabilities do not allow me to make the required repairs.”
Mahmoud lives with his family in a rented house, while he works on a taxi with a rented public license plate as well, which leaves him with fixed monthly obligations that do not stop at the housing allowance, but also include the cost of the license plate and his family’s daily expenses.
He explains that the war directly hit his source of livelihood, saying: “During the war and displacement, I stopped working for months. I live from my daily work on the car, and when I am not working there is no income. After returning, I found myself facing a damaged house that needed repair, rent to be paid, and expenses for three children, and I did not have money to allocate for restoration at once.”
Mahmoud continues: “I am trying to fix what I can, and postpone what can be postponed, but the water problem cannot be left for a long time, and I fear that we will face the same problem with any new rain.”
The problem appears from another angle to Abu Hassan, a resident of a building in Al Mareija in the southern suburb, who was able to restore his house and return to it, while the common parts of the building remained damaged.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I renovated my house as much as I could so that I could live in it, but the problem is no longer just inside the apartment. The entrance to the building and the skylights of the stairs are still cracked, and with the rainfall it became clear that the restoration inside our homes is not enough, as long as the common parts of the building are damaged.”
“With the first actual test after the restoration, we faced the problem of water leaking into the entrance and stairs.”
The priority for him and other families was to return home as quickly as possible, which prompted each family to treat what it could within its apartment, while shared parts remained that required a greater cost.
The obsession with cost and renewed war is not much different among store owners. Musa Salman, a store owner in Bir al-Abd, still relies on nylon and wood instead of permanently repairing his storefront.
Salman told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I preferred to keep the nylon and wood as they are, because I do not know what might happen. In the summer, it is relatively easier, but in the winter the issue becomes more difficult. However, I do not want to bear the cost of repairing the entire facade and then lose it if the war breaks out again.”
He points out that repairing the facade requires a significant amount of money, in light of the weak commercial activity, explaining that the lower part alone may cost about $600, while the cost of the upper part may reach more than a thousand dollars.
He adds: “In light of this situation, a person calculates every step. “There is no commercial activity as before, and whoever can postpone the cost does so.”
