'How can I help?': Lebanon's diaspora mobilises in wake of blast

LOS ANGELES: Lebanon's diaspora, estimated at nearly three times the size of the tiny country's population of five million, has stepped up to provide assistance following theLebanese expats rushed to wire money to loved ones who lost their homes or were injured in the blast on Tuesday that killed at least 137 people, while others worked to create special funds to address the tragedy."I've been on the phone all morning with ...

"As a first step, my wife Hala and I will match at least US$10,000 in donations and later on we will provide more help towards rebuilding and other projects," Habib Haddad, a tech entrepreneur and member of LebNet based in Boston, Massachusetts, told AFP. "They're asking Lebanese emigrants around the world to try and help," said Maroun Daccache, owner of a Lebanese restaurant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a country that has an estimated seven million people of Lebanese descent.

Expats also usually visit home every summer, injecting much-needed cash into the economy. But the diaspora this year has largely been absent because of the COVID-19 pandemic and many had become increasingly sceptical and reluctant to send aid to a country where corruption is widespread and permeates all levels of society.

"We are the financial bloodline especially since the economy is not going to recover anytime soon," Khairalla, whose brother's home was reduced to rubble by the blast, said."And we are lucky to have a kind of stable life here. We are physically outside Lebanon but our hearts and emotions are there."

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