Talks about 52 missing persons in the aftermath of the port explosion was a matter of concern and polemics among the Lebanese for several days. The lack of official figures in this regard has reinforced these fears. The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Red Cross, George Kettaneh, revealed that seven people were confirmed missing as at August 25th, including four Lebanese, two Syrians, and one Egyptian. According to a security forces source, four people are still missing, including two whose presence at the explosion scene could not be confirmed. Regardless of the number of missing people, it is indeed an agonizing wait for the families and friends to know the fate of their loved ones. They might have no hope of finding them alive, but they are still waiting for a body so they can hold a funeral and reach closure.
While the families are waiting to know the fate of their loved ones, it seems that many impediments obstruct the search operation. Several questions were addressed to parties concerned with the search operation, such as the Ministry of Health, the Lebanese Army, and the Internal Security Forces ISF. Apparently, the poor coordination and the lack of experience in dealing with a disaster of this magnitude delayed the task of locating and finding the missing people. However, a Lebanese army source and an Internal Security Forces source confirmed that they are pursuing the operation. The ISF is also asking employers to report any missing migrant workers. We were also informed that the remains of some migrant workers' bodies took more than two weeks to be released to their families, who had to come to Lebanon for some tests before the procedure was finalized.
Not only did the explosion threaten the lives of the people of Lebanon, destroy part of their capital, and cause them deep anguish, it also revived painful feelings. The word "missing" brought back to mind those who were declared "disappeared" during the civil war and whose fate, decades after the war, had not been revealed yet. Of course, the issue is not the same between the civil war and the port explosion. The circumstances are different, and times have changed, but the feelings of loss are no different for the families. Talking about the missing awakened the emotions and memories of the president of the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon, Wadad Halawani. She addressed the missing persons' families on her Facebook page and told them: "We don't want you to suffer like us."
This lady who has been searching for her missing husband for 38 years now said: "I could not face any mother or father because I would not be able to control my reaction when I see new victims, who will have to wait for a missing person to come or not to come, and what is even worse is the lack of official figures regarding the number of missing people." Halawani is afraid the state would not do enough to search for the missing ones and would make up excuses to tell the families, just like it did with those who disappeared during the civil war. If that is the case, then the families would face our fate; they would be living and not living, they would be just waiting. Waiting for loved ones to come back or ignoring their fate is harder than facing their death. Despite the cruelty of death, once the funerals are over, life will go on. There is no cure for the feeling of loss but to clarify the fate, to know the truth, whether a body or only body parts were found."
Fearing that the state would not fulfill its duties is justifiable. Several people searching for their relatives complained of the poor performance of the concerned parties. The family of Ghassan Hasrouti said it out loud. His son, Elie Hasrouti, contacted several relevant authorities searching for his father, each party referred him elsewhere. He was even told: "you manage!"
The Executive Director of the Legal Agenda, attorney Nizar Saghieh, noted that, based on the Geneva Convention and Lebanon's international obligations, the Lebanese state was supposed to establish an office that would track missing persons in case of a war. "The mission of this office is to collect information about the loss of any person quickly. Since the 2006 war, we have repeatedly called for the establishment of the office, and the Red Cross has repeatedly asked the army to establish it. The office can be used to search for missing persons in the event of a disaster. If it were established, we would have had more experience dealing with the issue of missing persons today." Per attorney Saghieh, the main problem is that Lebanon is not prepared to face any kind of disasters. "The country is in a state of decay. The people are left to their own fate."
Although the number of missing persons has declined, the humanitarian cause and the suffering of the families waiting for any piece of information are enough reasons to intensify the efforts until those people are found. They should not become just numbers on the lists of missing persons. The state of confusion that followed the disaster is a stronger reason to reconsider the country's readiness for disasters in order to preserve human rights and dignity.