Buildings and bushes in Ashrafieh- Fassouh Area were in extreme danger last night, since some people decided to burn garbage near them. Neglecting all the hazards resulting from burning garbage, some “careless” people just did it.
We first learned about the incident through pictures that were posted by Alexandre Paulikevitch, who lives in the area. Paulikevitch added the following caption in Arabic above his post: “Someone smart in the neighborhood decided to burn garbage. We’ve been suffocating for half an hour”, adding “We cannot sit on the balcony, neither can we sit inside our homes”.
Alexandre told “greenarea.info”: ” This happened Fassouh area going down the bridge to Nahr”. He was amazed why there is garbage in his neighborhood: “It’s not Metn… why they are not taking up the rubbish I am not understanding”.
He added that “The civil defense arrived, and there was a lack of communication; one truck stayed on the bridge, while the other one stayed down to put off the fire”.
He continued: “A third one came to put off fire after ten minutes (when there was no fire),” adding that “they took some time to put off the fire, but we can’t blame them”.
That is how he expressed his anger of what was happening: “what is shameful is the lack of responsibility! putting the garbage on fire where you have behind it lots of bushes and very close buildings. This is just as crazy as the state of things that we reached. sad just sad… and disgusting!!”
When asking him about people’s reactions when the fire took place, Paulikevitch said that “everybody was watching numb! no reaction whatsoever.” “You should write about this numbness,” he said.
Why do you think this is the case though? The angry citizen answered: “Nobody seems to care anymore, as if they are not concerned”. “If someone burned garbage… Isn’t that better than rats filling the place?… I think this is the kind of thinking”.
On the other hand, we tried to contact the Civil Defense. After linking us to Ashrafieh office, we were informed that the team whose shift started today does not know any details. They also told us to call them on Monday to know what happened from the concerned team.
It is such a pity to see Lebanese citizens trying to find worse solutions to get rid of garbage than those being given by the Lebanese state. Burning garbage will harm people’s health and the environment at the same time. But.. Why isn’t there a government to take care of its citizens on all levels?
