BEIRUT: As Lebanon is increasingly plagued by power outages as a result of the fuel crisis in the country, the blackouts are affecting all sections of society. Status and official standing offer little protection, with politicians and foreign diplomats just as vulnerable as residents and business owners.
On Friday morning, two of the nation’s main power plants stopped working completely because of a lack of fuel. This had a knock-on effect on water supplies, as pumping stations cannot operate without electricity or fuel for back-up generators.
Since Thursday, power supplies have failed across Bekaa, Tripoli, Saida, Sour, Nabateyye, Baabda, Mount Lebanon and Beirut, with blackouts now affecting more than 90 percent of the country.
One of the people feeling the effects was Takeshi Okubo, the Japanese ambassador to Lebanon, who wrote on social media about his fears for the effects of the electricity crisis on healthcare.
“Electric power supply is down at my residence since early morning,” he said in a message posted on Twitter. “I was told no prospect of resumption of power supply. My thought is with all the hospitals and clinics.”
Within a short space of time his tweet had received more than 747 likes, been retweeted 133 times and attracted more than 55 replies.
Firas Abiad, the CEO and manager of Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH), recently said on Twitter that the main concern at most hospitals in Lebanon now is not the threat posed by the Delta variant of the coronavirus, nor shortages of medical supplies.
“The major worry now is electricity, without which medical equipment cannot work,” he wrote. “Old generators cannot continue running nonstop. When they break down, lives will be at risk.”
Abiad also sent a letter to government ministers about of the dire consequences of the fuel crisis and blackouts, warning that “backup generators won’t hold up for long amid this recurring and serious crisis.” He noted, for example, that the RHUH has already been forced to switch off air coolers in non-medical wards and some other departments.
Faisal Karami, an MP from the northern city of Tripoli, has expressed anger and disappointment about the performance of the cabinet and ruling elite. During a TV interview last week he said he went to his office to work but had no electricity for several hours and eventually had to return home. He added that he wonders how people are managing to cope with extended blackouts when he “couldn’t endure few hours of disconnection.”
Another sitting MP, who lives in Beirut and asked not to be named, told Arab News that he has experienced power cuts at his home.
“The backup generator at our building ran out of fuel and we couldn’t get supplies for two days,” he said. “It was hell, especially during this hot and humid weather.” He added that he has been spending more time at his office, where the electricity supply has not as yet failed.
On Friday morning, power company Electricite Du Liban (EDL) said that the Deir Amar and Zahrani power plants, which supply more than 40 percent of the country’s electricity, had to shut down because international correspondent banks had not approved financial transactions that would enable EDL to receive two deliveries of fuel. Both shipments have been sitting at Port of Beirut since last week.
Later EDL announced that one of the vessels had begun to unload fuel for the Deir Amar plant and the other would soon start unloading fuel for Zahrani, and that the electric supply is expected to gradually improve from Saturday.
