“I never imagined that I would live to see the end of the world, but that is exactly what we are experiencing today in Lebanon, and let’s read the headlines based on facts and figures: the national currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value since 2019, 78 percent of the population lives in poverty, There is an acute shortage of fuel and diesel, and society is on the verge of collapse.”

But what does all this mean? It means total preoccupation every day with scrambling for basic necessities, a life cut short to the logistics of survival and a physically, mentally and emotionally drained population, author Lina Munther answers in an article for the New York Times.

Monther, a Lebanese writer and translator chronicling social changes in the wake of the country’s economic collapse, says she craves the simplest pleasures, like meeting up with family on Sundays for elaborate meals and driving down the coast to see a friend instead of providing gas for emergencies, but now it’s impossible to imagine indulging in None of these luxuries.

She adds that she starts her day in Beirut already busy, noting that cars start lining up at the gas station next to her house after midnight with loud sounds and frustrated screams from the street, noting that electricity is only available for one hour a day, and this means a flood of letters of apology Work and sleepless evenings due to the stifling summer heat.
And with each day, a new low emerges to get used to, including queues in front of exchange shops, and shortages of bottled water and cooking gas, noting that the Lebanese believe tap water is not safe enough to cook with.
The writer tells story after story about her daily life, telling us that there is little bread to be found in groceries, and we talk about the dangers of going to the bakery, where you have to pass through the gas station, which is constantly witnessing deadly quarrels and gun battles.

She said bakery workers lived in fear of a gun battle or an explosion at the gas station, and the journey home was horrific, a neighborhood where no one was obligated by rules or traffic lights.
The article pointed out that hospitals are exhausted, they are on the verge of closing, and cancer treatments are no longer guaranteed, and said that friends live in terror for fear of their children getting a mild illness, as there are no medicines in pharmacies and no ice for masks, even the suicide prevention hotline stopped due to Blackouts.
She added that people are dying from treatable diseases such as scorpion stings, fever and food poisoning.
She noted that the minimum monthly wage has fallen to less than $50, while the price of food has increased by more than 500 percent over the past year.
Beirut as we know it is now gone, Munther adds, noting that there was more luster and euphoria to life in the city under bombardment in the civil war than life now: a life without electricity, cars, gas, internet and drinking water.