August 4th Commemoration at HDF

One year after the Beirut port explosion that shook the capital, Hôtel-Dieu de France still remembers the night of August 4, when it found itself in the midst of a bloody and devastated Beirut. In commemoration of this horrific tragedy, the hospital organized on August 3, 2021, at 6:07 p.m., a ceremony to pay tribute to the victims, the injured and their families in front of the Emergency Department that has witnessed the tragedy of that night.

The ceremony began with a minute of silence at 6:07 pm, followed by the National Anthem and candle-lighting in front of the Emergency Department, in the presence of Prof. Salim Daccache s.j., Rector of Saint Joseph University of Beirut and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hôtel-Dieu de France, the Board of Directors of Hôtel-Dieu de France, the Board of Directors of Saint Joseph University of Beirut, the families of the injured and the victims, in addition to doctors, nurses and hospital staff.

Prof. Salim Daccache s.j., delivered a speech in which he conveyed all the pain and tragic memories that this date evokes: 

« August 4, the day of a devastated Beirut that witnessed the death and injury of its dearest people. It is true that August 4 is the day of the explosion, the explosion of hatred, carelessness and criminality. However, August 4 brought forth a flame, the flame of giving and offering care to the injured and martyred, the flame of the sacrifices of doctors, nurses, student doctors, administrative employees and every member of our hospitals, namely Hôtel-Dieu de France's staff, who were mobilized and still are mobilized to give their best to save patients. [...] August 4, 2020, brings us every day a flame that does not fade away, the flame of the restoration of sovereignty, the sovereignty over the port of Beirut, over Beirut and over all Lebanon, it brings us the flame of the restoration of justice without which the country cannot rise, without which the State, the so-called Lebanese State, the Lebanese Republic, the Lebanese Homeland and the Lebanese Nation cannot rise again, the flame of justice for those who are no longer among us, those who want to know who had prepared them this heinous crime and this evil attack. [...] ».

At the end of the ceremony, the facade of the hospital was illuminated in red in memory of the blood of the victims.