Broken glass lies beneath the altar of St. Maron Church in Dora, Lebanon, a suburb northeast of Beirut, two days after two massive explosions rocked Beirut.
Photo: CNS In the throes of a collapsing economy exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and devastation from the catastrophic Beirut port blast last August, Lebanon is sinking further into a dire situation.
“Now we have the ‘new’ poor,” Carmelite Fr Michel Abboud, president of Caritas Lebanon said of the rapidly rising segment of the country’s population.
“So many people have lost their jobs. Before, they came to us to donate. Now, in despair, they are coming to ask for help.”
The Lebanese currency has lost nearly 90% of its value over the past 18 months, driving more than half of the population below the poverty line. A wage equal to $1,000 is now worth less than $100, and inflation is skyrocketing.
“The suffering of the people. The anxiety of the people. The ‘virus’ of the crises in Lebanon. We have many problems in Lebanon,” Fr Abboud told Catholic News Service.
“Now we are in the tunnel. The majority of families repeat the same expression to us: ‘Our lives have changed. We were well-to-do, now we are poor,’” he said. “It’s a tragedy.”
The currency devaluation has caused hyperinflation, such that basic foods have become unaffordable for the previously middle class.