After the August 4th Explosion, the UNDP conducted a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) to assess the impact of the blast. The self reported survey submissions were collected over a period of 6 days (week of 17 August 2020) using a combination of Facebook Ads, Google display ads, phone call surveys, and sms. All channels targeted those located in or surrounding the geographic area of the blast and surrounding neighborhoods of Beirut.

To ensure a post-blast recovery process that is inclusive and just, it is essential to design a holistic response that addresses all different types of vulnerabilities, and incorporates social groups with the most intersecting vulnerabilities. These measures need to integrate the multiple timescales at which a recovery is designed, particularly an immediate –emergency- response and a long-term response.

As such, our work on SEIA was based on the need to collect disaggregated socio-economic and geo-referenced data that identifies people’s multiple indicators of vulnerability, namely: age, gender, nationality, race, location of residence and work, income, occupation, education, family status, physical and mental health status, tenure status, etc.

This data can help understand which people face multiple compounding disadvantages and identify the barriers to reducing their vulnerabilities. Through the examination of such people- driven data, deprived and marginalized social groups can be empowered through civic engagement, integrated and just policies, interventions and budgets can be voiced and enacted.

This rapid process resulted in  5,901  households surveyed / 3,680  businesses surveyed

*For surveys such as the SEIA, a sample of people are assessed instead of all inhabitants, which can only be achieved through a census. While censuses offer comprehensive and valuable information, they are relatively extremely costly and take years to plan for and to conduct. In disaster situations, a well designed survey provides essential information within a short time frame to allow for rapid response. The SEIA dataset is self-reported and collected online, which means it cannot be comprehensively representative, in all data analysis, it is essential to understand the accuracy of the results. SEIA was collected within weeks of the blast, reaching approximately 6,000 people, which is a considerable sample size and allows for insights to be generated at the Beirut level.