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PORT EXPLOSION

Why the demolition of the Beirut silos is not as simple as it seems

Why the demolition of the Beirut silos is not as simple as it seems

A column of black smoke emanating from the northern part of the silos in the port of Beirut. (Credit: Marc Fayad)

The two methods that could be considered, namely implosion or a steel wrecking ball, are costly processes and risk triggering the population’s trauma. Activists, meanwhile, continue to call for the preservation of the structures.

While a part of the northern part of the silos at the Beirut port have collapsed, the southern part of the structure continues to hold steady and could be preserved without much difficulty, experts told L’Orient-Le Jour.

This calls into question the insistence of the authorities to demolish the entire silos, although it is against the will of the victims’ families who call for the preservation of the structures. This is particularly true since the demolition of the remaining part of these huge reinforced concrete storage structures is not as simple as one might imagine, some experts said.

The fate of the silos has been the subject of endless back and forth for several months. On March 16, Najib Mikati’s cabinet approved their demolition, before this decision was challenged two days later by Culture Minister Mohamad Mortada, who issued a decision granting the silos a heritage status.

However, on April 14, the cabinet returned to the fray, entrusting the Council for Development and Reconstruction with demolishing the silos.

Two possible methods, both problematic

Yehya Temsah, structural engineer and deputy director of the Arab University of Beirut, said that there is no need to demolish the whole silos and that the southern part could be easily preserved.

“The southern part of the storage tank is stable. It just needs a slight reinforcement,” he told L’Orient-Le Jour.

Temsah is one of the signatories of a letter sent on July 20 to the presidency of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Culture, along with signatories Biladi, a Lebanese NGO, the Lebanese Association for the Protection of Antiquities and Heritage (ALCAP) and the Lebanese National Committee for the Blue Shield. The letter requested that the cabinet reactivats Mortada’s decision and classify the silos as heritage buildings.

When asked about the methods that the authorities could adopt in case the demolition ends up being necessary, Temsah said that there are two options.

“The first possible method is implosion. We can blow up the silos with an explosive material placed inside. This is the method that has already been mentioned by the government.” Prior to the collapse of part of the northern portion, he said this method “may be feasible for the northern part, but it would be dangerous for the southern part.”

“Imploding the southern part could cause more damage to the surrounding area than to the silos themselves, as these structures are made of reinforced concrete,” he explained.

“There is also a more traditional method consisting of demolishing them little by little with a steel ball. This process is expensive and time-consuming. In any case, if we demolish the silos, we can not build anything in their place because their foundations will be difficult to remove,” he added.

Nabil el-Jisr, chairman of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, said that the implosion is a better option, since the other method is too slow. “We conducted a study on the demolition mechanism,” he said. However, the uncertainty is a tense point for the CDR, which has not obtained an answer from the government, which according to Jisr, has yet to decide on the silo’s next steps.

$1,000... per hour

“If we decide to use the wrecking ball, just imagine the noise that Beirut residents will hear all day long and the ensuing trauma,” said Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly, Baladi director and a specialist in endangered natural heritage sites. “And it would be worse if we opt for the implosion. The noise will be worse than the explosions on Aug. 4, 2020, not to mention the cost of this kind of operation and the subsequent pollution,” she added.

Farchakh Bajjaly, also said that “Demolition is a purely political solution to say that the explosion never happened. Without material evidence, one can falsify data and narratives and, little by little, modify the memory,” she warned.

For the expert, “these silos have foundation walls of several meters that cannot be removed, so it is a space that cannot be used in the reconstruction of the port.” She also wonders if the sale of iron resulting from the demolition could be an incentive for the silo’s demolition. .

Jisr told L’Orient-Le Jour that this option was considered as a way to ease the financial burden of the demolition, but nothing is certain for the moment.

Rana Dubeissy, a professor of architecture at the Lebanese University and an activist with Biladi and Blue Shield, said “the use of the wrecking ball is a financial drain.” She also added that “renting this crane costs $1,000 per hour. Not to mention that at least six months will be needed to complete the work.”

Ephemeral memorial in grain

“It is absolutely necessary to add the silos to the list of national heritage, in order to give a visual value to the collective trauma,” said Farchakh Bajjaly.

She and the other signatories of the letter to the government are waiting for a meeting with the prime minister and caretaker culture minister in order to speed up the preservation of the silos.

Among the advocates of this idea is Gioia Sawaya, an architect interested in the link between memory and urbanism. After researching the history of this structure, this young architect designed a project for a temporary memorial near the silos, which would be built from grain recovered on-site.

“The project consists of constructing a wall in the harbor made of grain bricks that will have the same dimensions as the part destroyed by the explosion. It will be a temporary but highly symbolic memorial,” she told L’Orient-Le Jour.

“I imagined this concept a few months ago because I believe that the demolition will be an attack on the collective memory. It is now a sacred space that can no longer be considered for economic profit,” Sawaya added.

Although it has not yet been published in scientific journals, Sawaya’s project is already causing a stir on social networks.

“People have shared the project online. I was contacted by employees of the Ministry of Public Works who seemed to like the idea, but they didn’t follow through,” she said.

Sawaya went on, and added,“The fact that the silos remain in this state today is symbolic of the corruption in the country. They need to be kept in place and consolidated so that we don't forget what happened on that fateful Aug. 4, 2020. I think the silos should not be touched until justice is served. The decision about their fate should be left to the Lebanese people and not to the authorities alone.”

This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translation by Joelle El Khoury. 

The two methods that could be considered, namely implosion or a steel wrecking ball, are costly processes and risk triggering the population’s trauma. Activists, meanwhile, continue to call for the preservation of the structures.While a part of the northern part of the silos at the Beirut port have collapsed, the southern part of the structure continues to hold steady and could be preserved...