Page 16 - 2309-Caterpillar_SARL-GB

CAT DEALER JALLAD LEBANON
®
FROM DEVASTATION

COMES HOPE

Lebanon and the city of Beirut have had a difficult past.
From civil wars to bombings, protests and COVID-19, and
most recently, a devastating explosion that experts say was
one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in human history.

On August 4, 2020 there was a first, smaller blast “I was in the Jallad office, about 18 km from the port,
that was quicky followed at 6:07pm by a much more but it felt like we were much closer. Thankfully, our office
devastating explosion that Tarek Jallad called “colossal” only received minor damage. So many others were much
and “apocalyptic”. Tarek is the Dealer Principal for Cat less fortunate,” said Toni Akiki, the General Manager at
®
dealer Jallad and the Chairman of the Board for the Jallad M. Ezzat Jallad & Fils SAL. “After the initial shock, we
Group. “This tragic event was such a terrible convergence immediately made sure our staff and their families were
of factors. On top of an already difficult year in which the safe. It took less than an hour and thankfully everyone
country had gone through so many challenges, it couldn’t was alright. It was then that we started to understand
have come at a worse time. As a company and as dedicated the tragedy of what happened and began to think about
members of the community, we were all deeply impacted how we could mobilize our resources to help others.”
and horrified. Yet, from the very beginning, there was a
feeling of how we could turn such negativity and feelings Just two hours later, at about 9:00pm, Jallad had mobilized
of helplessness into some form of positive action.” emergency power and light towers to the explosion site
to assist the rescue team operation. An hour later, the
With the shockwave felt as far as Cyprus (more equipment was operational. “We delivered some spare
than 120 miles away), in a little more than the blink parts, utility machines, light towers, and diesel generators
of an eye, 158 people had been killed, 6,000 were to the Lebanese army as soon as possible,” added Toni.
wounded and hundreds were missing. A month “The Lebanese army has their own Cat machines, and
later, the death toll reached 220 people. our service team was available in case of any equipment
problems. We were also immediately in contact with
According to the city’s governor, up to 300,000 people lost hospitals to see how we could provide power.”
their homes. Two hospitals near the blast epicenter had
to be evacuated, and others, already overwhelmed by With such widespread physical and emotional damage,
the pandemic, lacked equipment to care for the injured. the people at Jallad organized a group of volunteers in
In addition, the explosion made what were considered one of the worst hit neighborhoods. “We had about 40 staff
normal, daily power outages even worse, forcing members helping clean up over two different days,” said
the injured to be treated in hospital parking lots. The Toni. “We had a 906 compact wheel loader, a 428 Backhoe
estimated reconstruction cost is around $5 billion US. Loader, two skid steers and plenty of shovels. We moved
out 18 dump truck loads of rubble to a recycle yard.”

August 4, 2020

Devastating explosions Mobilizing support Equipment is operational
6:07 pm 9:00 pm 10:00 pm

• 158 people killed
• 6,000 wounded
• Hundreds missing
• 300,000 people lost their homes The Jallad team sends emergency power A Jallad service team is available for the
and lights to assist rescue operations. Lebanese army’s Cat machines.