Non-profits on the Front Line to Recover Beirut: The Interplay between State Weakness, Disaster Recovery and Public Trust

Abstract

The Beirut explosion of August 4, 2020, was one of the most catastrophic events in Lebanon's recent history, with a death toll of over 200, thousands of injuries, and billions of dollars in damages. The aftermath of the explosion highlighted the weakness of the Lebanese government in responding and recovering from a disaster of that magnitude, leaving non-profit organizations to step in and take the lead. Despite the tireless efforts of many individuals and organizations, the response and recovery process has not been successful, and two years later, the city still struggles to regain its former glory. This thesis examines how the weakness of the government reflected on the efforts of non-profit organizations to achieve recovery and how this, in turn, affected public trust in these organizations. Our findings reveal that the absence of a clear disaster management plan from the government resulted in minimal intervention and responsibility being shifted to non-profit organizations, which faced significant challenges in operating in an unstable environment without state intervention. However, after analyzing our data, we found that public perception of non-profit organizations was only affected positively after the explosion, and the Lebanese public still relies on and trusts these organizations as opposed to the government.