Resilience to Nested Crises: The Effects of the Beirut Explosion on COVID-19 Safety Protocol Adherence During Humanitarian Assistance to Refugees

Abstract

To provide services safely to refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic, humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have instituted public health safety protocols to mitigate the risk of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, it can be difficult for people to adhere to protocols under the best of circumstances, and in situations of nested crises, in which one crisis contributes to a cascade of additional crises, adherence can further deteriorate. Such a nested crises situation occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, when a massive explosion in the city injured or killed thousands and destroyed essential infrastructure. Using data from a study on COVID-19 safety protocol adherence during refugee humanitarian assistance in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, we conduct a cross-country comparison to determine whether the nested crises in Beirut led to a deterioration of protocol adherence–the “fragile rationalism” orientation–or whether adherence remained robust–the “collective resilience” orientation. We found greater evidence for collective resilience, and from those findings make public health recommendations for service provision occurring in disaster areas.

The mediating effect of post-traumatic growth on the relationship between personality traits and resilience among a sample of Lebanese adults

“…Before the 2020 pandemic, Lebanese faced crises in sanitation management, disruptions in essential services like water and electricity, as well as Lebanese pound corruption, impacting mental health and resilience [34]. Following the Beirut blast, the remarkable resilience and adaptability of the Lebanese population in the face of trauma, tragedy, threats, or any significant source of stress became evident in their daily lives [35].…”