Miller Magazine Issue: 149 May 2022

62 MILLER / MAY 2022 NEWS Decision comes as silos face risk of collapse and despite calls to preserve them as a memorial site. “Re- pairing them will cost a lot,” says Lebanese Information Minister Makari. Lebanon ordered the demolition of Beirut’s grain silos, at risk of collapse following a devastating 2020 port ex- plosion, despite calls to preserve them as a memorial site. “We tasked the Council for Development and Reconstruc- tion with supervising the demolition process,” Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makari, without specifying a time frame. Makari said the government’s decision was based on a report by Lebanon’s Khatib and Alami Engineering Compa- ny, which warned that the silos in the port of the capital Bei- rut could collapse within months. Last year, Swiss company Amann Engineering also called for their demolition, saying the most damaged of the silos were tilting at a rate of two millimeters per day. Once boasting a capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes, the imposing 48 meters high structure has become em- blematic of the catastrophic August 4 port blast, that killed more than 200 people and damaged swathes of the capi- tal in 2020. The silos absorbed much of the blast’s impact, shielding large swaths of west Beirut from its ravaging ef- fects. Activists and some relatives of blast victims have called for the grain silos to be preserved as a memorial site. “The silos are a witness to the massacre you committed against us,” said a statement last month by the victim’s families, re- ferring to authorities. Lebanon to demolish grain silos damaged in the 2020 Beirut blast