Muhammad Dahsha wrote in “Nidaa Al-Watan”:
The Habqouq family, along with the children of Our Lady of Mantara – Maghdoucheh, and all the cities and villages of the south are holding their breath waiting to know the fate of their son Basil Habqouq, who lost his trace and was cut off with his companion Elias Haddad in the Turkish city of Antakya, after the devastating earthquake that struck it at dawn on Monday and claimed the lives of thousands of dead and wounded, including Lebanese. Syrians and Palestinians of different nationalities. The tragedy of the Habqouq family is double, and it summarizes in its chapters and details the suffering of the Lebanese with the living and economic crises that they are reeling under, and it prompted her son Basil to travel to Antioch in search of a decent living, while bad luck followed him from Lebanon to Turkey, as he arrived about four hours before The earthquake occurred and he stayed with Haddad at the «OZCHIAN» hotel in Antakya (Hatay). His brother Fadi Habqouq recounts the family’s tragedy, and he tells “Nidaa Al-Watan”: “My brother Basil traveled on Sunday night and arrived just before midnight, that is, about three hours before the earthquake occurred (twenty-three minutes in the morning), and we rushed to contact him to no avail, as There has been no news of him and contact with him since then. The family did not despair of finding him alive. “We contacted many friends and acquaintances in order to find out his fate, or obtain any information about him, before we contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lebanese ambassador to Turkey and informed them of what happened,” Fadi says with a burning heart.
Fadi did not hide that the Lebanese authorities took care of the case, “I sent a delegate to the place, but unfortunately it turned out that the hotel in which he was staying had been destroyed, so the third floor was on the ground level, but we did not lose hope, as the operations of removing the rubble were taking place in the place, and the ambulance teams were able to pull out survivors.” And there were only a few people left, including Basil and his companion Elias, and we pray to God to inform us of the news of their survival.
Habqouk is from the town of Maghdouche, in his forties, married to Mona, a nurse at the Abra School, and they have two children. He works as a tour guide, drives a bus, and also transports tourists, but the hardships of living and the decline in the number of tourists prompted him to travel in search of a living where the earthquake occurred. . In the town, the sons of Maghdoucheh, old and young, young and old, express their support for the family and their solidarity with it. Mayor Raif George Younan took care of the issue most of his attention, and he made a fan of contacts with his friends, especially in Turkey, and Joseph Hayek said, “We pray to God for his survival.” While the head of the Human Rights Committee, Representative Michel Moussa (who is the son of Maghdouche and resides there), described what happened as a humanitarian catastrophe, the fragments of which affected Lebanon from north to south, and said to “Nidaa Al-Watan”: “We are communicating with all references and officials to reveal the fate of Basil and all the missing Lebanese. Contacts with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lebanese ambassador to Turkey, and we hope to hear good news because the rescue teams are carrying out their operations in the hotel despite all the natural and logistical difficulties in terms of the need for accurate equipment.
“At every wedding we have a disc,” a popular proverb is repeated on every lips and tongue in Sidon and the south. From the stricken planes to the victims of expatriation, who die in traffic accidents or theft, to the disturbances that occur in some countries and take away all the profits and livelihoods of the Lebanese, sad stories are told despite all the success. About alienation and about living dipped in sweat, tears, and sometimes blood.
The aftershock of the earthquake was not limited to Maghdouche, but spread to all regions, amidst remarkable solidarity, the Lebanese began to wake up from the horror of the shock and absorb it, and the medical, first aid and civil societies declared general alert and readiness to cope with any emergency on the one hand, and to send their teams as much as possible and the capabilities for rescue and assistance on the other hand. The “National Institutions Gathering” in the Sidon region was not late in expressing the readiness of the associations within its ranks to stand by the first responder team in Syria and Turkey, and to play any role that can be played to help remove the rubble and save what can be saved, as quickly as possible.
His secretary, Majid Hamto, said: “We are ready for that. We previously played this role when Beirut exploded in 2020. Today we are ready to repeat this role in defense of our people. We are ready to face any emergency that may affect Sidon and the south, and in any region of Lebanon.” The medical and emergency societies called for an emergency meeting, and the ambulance committee in Sidon decided to send 5 ambulances and 25 paramedics, while a team from the Islamic Medical Association set out to participate in rescue and rescue missions in Turkey.
Activists on social media and “WhatsApp” groups talked about the killing of 7 Lebanese in the earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey, while more than 30 Lebanese are still missing. The Sidonian Hajja Lutfia says: “Every day our hearts burn, and our eyes shed tears, from one tragedy to another.” A catastrophe, may God protect Lebanon and the Lebanese from all tribulations, earthquakes, tremors, and physical traits.