The blast and destruction of Beirut on the 4th of August 2020 has caused the death of more than 200 persons, over 6500 were wounded, and more than 300,000 families have lost their homes. 

This visual provides an overview of all collective actions, policy decisions, and state security responses that took place in the aftermath of the Beirut port blast, between August 4th and August 31st 2020. It highlights the dynamism of civic collective actions in comparison to the slow response of the state, which focused mainly on maintaining a state of emergency, security deployments, violent repression of protesters demanding accountability, and arrests. Policy decisions were few, and mainly related to the ongoing investigation into the Beirut blast (which has yet to yield concrete results at the time of publishing this visual in October 2020). The majority of collective actions during that period (246 out of 356) consisted of solidarity and relief aid to victims, with 26 protests demanding accountability over the explosion.

This reiterates how local and national civic initiatives (whether informal collectives or organisations) are the first and main responders mobilising on the ground and providing aid and relief following a humanitarian crisis.