Just two hours after the explosion that rocked through Beirut last week, volunteers started to go through the wreckage near the city's port to look for traumatized pets that were alone and injured.

What started as a spontaneous effort transformed quickly into a group of more than 200 volunteers organized by Animals Lebanon, an animal rights NGO based in Beirut.

Volunteers had to act quickly to get to parts of the city that were badly destroyed by the explosion but road access was hampered.

"We improvised getting into the area near the blast. Cars cannot go there because there's just so many stones on the ground that the car cannot pass by," Animals Lebanon vice-president Maggie Shaarawi told CGTN Europe.

She has been on the ground organizing volunteers and the rescue effort since the explosion on 4 August.

"We have motorcycle teams coming every day waiting at the exit points and at the entry point of the major area affected. Volunteers are on foot locating the animals. And then you have a few people who are experienced in catching cats and dogs. 

"They run to the location, get off the bike and then take the animal to the hospital. So, we're really acting like the Red Cross for animals."

Saved from the rubble

Many of the buildings that these rescue crews are searching through were badly damaged during the blast that left 6,000 people injured and an estimated 300,000 people homeless.

"We saw a cat on a two-story house, and the second floor was already destroyed," said Kamal Al Khatib, a volunteer with Animals Lebanon.

"The cat was on the first floor, and the civil defense were zoning [the area]. They were not allowing anyone past. I said 'you have to let me rescue the cat.' And he said, 'no, you cannot.'

"I thought, okay, let me ask you something. 'If you see a person on that floor, would you go and rescue them and risk your life?' And he said yes. 'Okay, I am the same, but I rescue animals.'"

Al Khatib added that only highly-trained volunteers are allowed to go into these buildings to rescue these animals. When the pets are found, they are usually traumatized by what happened to them and require special care.

Al Khatib has scratches up and down his arms from cats that he has rescued.

"They don't know that they're safe yet," Shaarawi said.

"They were thrown off balconies. Most of the cats, we got them from the elevator shafts, and they've been there for six and seven days with broken legs or broken jaws. It was really horrific. 

"Whatever I'm describing also happened sadly to people. But we can absorb the trauma better because we can think that now, this situation is gone. But for them, they're still in this confusing situation."

People and their pets reunited

In the days following the blast, Animals Lebanon received over 350 requests for help to locate people's lost cats or dogs. And to date, the group has reunited over 100 pets with their owners.

"We'd like to phrase it that our work is helping people and animals," Shaarawi said.

"I have a friend who lost her house, her car and her job two months ago, and we just found her cat. And that meant the world to her. So really, this is very important. And I think people do realize that."

In the past week, Animals Lebanon and their volunteers have spent more than 5,000 hours looking for animals.

They have turned their office, which was damaged during the blast, into a temporary shelter. 

The cost to rebuild the city after the explosion is huge. By some estimates, it will cost around $15 billion dollars to rebuild Beirut – and the country was struggling before the blast: since October, the Lebanese currency had lost almost 80 percent of its value.

"I'll give an example for people to understand better," Shaarawi said.

"We used to buy the vaccine for cats for ten dollars, which would be around 15,000 Lebanese lira at the time.

"Now it's 80,000. So, it's like you multiply it by six or seven."

In response to this, Animals Lebanon has started a fundraiser to raise $100,000 to help the cats and dogs they rescued along with several abused and trafficked animals they were housing before the blast.  

They are also asking for people outside Lebanon to adopt dozens of their rescued animals as they are unprepared to deal with the number of cats and dogs that are in need of their help.