CARINA (mother of 4) lives in Achrafieh, an area that is very close to Beirut port and to the explosion spot, She was in her house at the time of the explosion, she had visitors, her sister, her friend, and their kids, they were 10 people in the house. The house is extremely damaged, Carina and her family members are still traumatized: she was almost screaming during the interview, still displaced, staying with her husband and kids at their relative house, (parents in law) in a region that is far away from the port location, Carina lost her sense of belonging to the neighborhood and to the city, she lost the feeling of security, future is not clear for her or for family, on the explosion day: she thought it was something very huge in their own building, a bomb maybe, she described the explosion as a war scene, glass all over the ground, injured people, dead people, destroyed houses, shops, cars,
destroyed hospitals, blood everywhere, it was complete madness, on their trajectory to the doctor’s clinic, once they reached outside the explosion boundaries, she felt as if life was going normal there,
and people were all normally going out and driving, as if they had no idea of what just happened in the port area, she had a very strange feeling, as if two different worlds.
An unusual roaring sound, terribly loud noise, non-stop.
The first explosion, “All the place was filled with black dust, but we were still seeing each other”.
”the 2nd explosion blew us and we did not feel what happened, we all flew across the room. I was aware I was flying and thinking this must be the end, I am going to die.“
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