The "Woman's Voice" Roundtable: The Lebanese Red Cross's Work in the Earthquake Disaster

The "Woman's Voice" Roundtable

In the salon of the president of the League of Women's Organizations in Lebanon, Mrs. Laure Tabet, the "Woman's Voice" roundtable gathered this month to deliberate on the topic of the hour: "the earthquake disaster." And in the dusky Eastern atmosphere, amid the Damascene curtains and the incense of the brazier, the members of the head office of the Lebanese Red Cross fell to telling their stories and their sorrows..

The "Woman's Voice roundtable" took up in its session this time the subject of the Lebanese Red Cross and the noble works it performed in the earthquake calamity that shook the whole of Lebanon.

This circle brought together the head office of the Red Cross, made up of the ladies Sandra Ferdi Khoury, daughter of the Marquise de Freige, president of the Red Cross, and herself president of the publicity and publications committee; Ellen Rihan and Najla Saab, the two secretaries; Miss Renée Arman, director of the mobile dispensaries operation; and the hostess, Mrs. Laure Tabet, treasurer of the Red Cross.

The Lebanese Red Cross took in hand the reins of the relief operation for the earthquake victims. This institution is a branch of a humanitarian, international, worldwide institution with its seat in the city of Geneva, in Switzerland, founded in 1860 when several great powers signed its charter. From that time it began its mighty work.. Before 1945 there was in Lebanon only a subsidiary committee called the Franco-Lebanese Red Cross, but after independence there was founded the Lebanese Red Cross we know today, which is completely independent financially. And only free states have the right to join the International Red Cross.

The first question we put to the members of the Red Cross office was the following:

What is the first thing the Red Cross does when calamities occur — such as the earthquake, for example?

Renée Arman answered, saying: "The first thing it does is medical relief. We send to the stricken villages and towns the mobile dispensaries with doctors, nurses, and scouts, and also milk for the infants and children, and meat and nourishing foods for the sick. In this way we try to secure their medical relief in the region itself; but if the case calls for operations to be performed in hospital, we provide them with transport and all the necessary aid, and sometimes the right of lodging.

And Najla Saab said, continuing: "Everyone knows that in the recent events the Red Cross took over the responsibility of distributing provisions to the inhabitants — food, drink, tents, blankets, and the rest, all from its own fund. The distribution went on without interruption, from the seventeenth of March onward, to all the stricken villages, with complete disinterestedness and fairness, without distinction of region, religion, or party... The International Red Cross helped greatly in this calamity by sending tents, blankets, medicines, and other things from its branch center in Istanbul.

And we must mention here, added Laure Tabet, that certain villages showed a largeness of spirit and a gallantry of which every Lebanese may be proud. Many of them gave thanks and, with pride and dignity, declined to accept the aid!

And that gallantry and noble character, said Ellen Rihan, made us forget the greed and covetousness of the other villages, and left in our souls beautiful, touching memories...!

What was the biggest problem you met with in this work of yours?

Ah, recalled Laure Tabet, the biggest problem we faced in our work in the villages was the dependence of their people, which was strange to us. After what happened, not one of them would attempt to repair what he was able to do himself, for fear of the assessment committee and of the government's not helping them afterward. This fear was the cause of their keeping away from work and their failure to rely on themselves.

Is the money the government has collected enough to rebuild all the destruction caused by the earthquake?

Of course not, replied Laure Tabet; what the government has collected is not enough, for the loss is great and the destruction enormous...

And the only solution to the building problem, Sandra Khoury went on, is for the owners of the houses themselves to take part in the building, and to contribute to the reconstruction.

Yes, agreed Ellen Rihan, that is how it must be. If they take a hand in this work, the costs will be lower and the work quicker!..

And it was the custom of old in the Lebanese villages, followed Najla Saab, that when one of them wished to build himself a dwelling, the whole village would gather and join in the building. The house would rise and be finished amid the bustle and merriment of all. Why should we not follow this old custom in our present case?

Were it not for the loss of life, we would say the earthquake was for Lebanon's good. The houses that fell are not to be mourned. They were old, taking no account of the requirements of comfortable, healthful building... And in their place will rise houses in the modern style! God willing!!

Yes, this is an unlooked-for opportunity to beautify the villages of Lebanon, agreed Laure Tabet. What matters now in the building question is that, besides the sanitary and practical considerations, the aesthetic side be observed.. And the competent committees must not lose sight of the fact that keeping the Lebanese character is very necessary. Better still, each village should be distinguished by a character of its own, if that is possible...

(Here we cannot help hinting that Mrs. Tabet's house is the best example of the Lebanese style. She has gathered in her home the old Lebanese beauty and the comfort of the modern fashion. Here are the beautiful old Arab chandeliers together with electricity; there the carved wood; there the damask covers and the precious ornamented ceramic pieces, and the pictures hung with taste, confirming the beauty of those furnishings.)

Sandra Khoury shared her opinion and said: The aesthetic, artistic side and the preservation of the Lebanese village character are two very important things. And I do not think we shall lose that character if the authorities cooperate with the people. The villager cannot do without the flat roof, for many reasons known to everyone who has lived in the villages — for drying onions and figs and the many grains... And he wants it with a movable ladder that he brings down at sunset into his house, so that he may sleep in peace..

But the sanitary side is more important than that, Ellen Rihan interrupted her; every house must contain a privy and a bath inside it, and not as the case is today — "at the far end of the terrace."

There is no fear of failing to obtain the sanitary fittings, answered Najla Saab; those are settled matters. But the important thing in this whole question is to set about the work of building at once and to finish it quickly, so that when October comes, and with it the cold and the storms, the people will all be sheltered from them and safe!

Therefore, added Ellen Rihan, the people of the village must build their village with their own hands, even if companies or committees are engaged for the designing and the building... The peasant must help to build his village, for many reasons, material and moral!

What is the Red Cross's work today, now that you have stopped the aid and the provisioning?

Najla Saab answered this question: The Red Cross can help today on the social side, offering counsel and guidance; and on the health side for a period of seven months, sending health detachments every week to all the stricken centers — and this costs more than ten thousand Lebanese lira every month...

And among the most important results of the earthquake is the creation of the emergency committee in the Lebanese Red Cross, excellently organized and backed by sound experience and information. It also possesses today precise documents and statistics on everything that happened in this recent period, which will help it to meet all coming crises — God forbid! — with effective speed.

Nor did the members of the roundtable forget, as they turned over those touching memories in their minds, to mention with thanks and appreciation their highest example of sacrifice, noble character, and humanitarian and patriotic zeal in that painful ordeal: the First Lady of Lebanon, Mrs. Zalfa Chamoun, honorary president of the Lebanese Red Cross. She was for them like the torch, and the captain of the ship, in the depths of the recent calamity!