At Least 135 Killed in Lebanon Explosion

Maeve Korengold writes about both the human and economic impacts of the shocking explosion that struck Beirut on Tuesday. At least 135 people have been left dead, although figures vary and are constantly changing, with thousands injured. For a country that was already teetering on economic collapse, the results could be unthinkable. Learn more about the Lebanese government's response to the crisis, and the efforts of charities.

Lebanon has been in an economic crisis since the beginning of the year. The unemployment rate was 25%, and a third of Lebanon’s population stood below the poverty line. Since October, the Lebanese pound has lost eighty percent of its value, and over sixty percent of its value in the last month. According to The Washington Post, this situation is the result of “economic mismanagement, corruption, and overspending.” In October, the Lebanese government suggested new taxes be creted for tobacco, petrol, and voice calls. The idea was to “drum up more revenue,” but these plans were abandoned, due to the backlash created by the tens of thousands of protesters in Lebanon’s streets. This retaliation also led to the resignation of Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, along with his unity government. Unions began to strike when suppliers of wheat and fuel called for payment in dollars. This resulted in bread, a staple in the Lebanese diet, becoming in extremely short supply. Hospitals are canceling surgeries and laying off staff, due to underfunding the government, while others are unable to produce sufficient electricity. Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, says: “Lebanon is no longer on the brink of collapse. The economy of Lebanon has collapsed.”

Image credit: Bernard Khalil via Flickr

The severe condition of Lebanon was exacerbated by explosions in the city of Beirut that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. There were two blasts, but the second one was more damaging than the first. At 6:08 p.m., the enormous second explosion occured; it was powerful enough to “overturn cars, damage and shake buildings across the city and strew debris over a wide area.”

A resident of the city reported that the streets of Beirut looked like they had been “cobbled in glass.”Over 135 people have been found dead, and it’s estimated that 300,000 people have been left homeless. The eruption was so strong that it could be felt in Cyprus, which is more than one-hundred and fifty miles from Beirut. The New York Times describes the damage left by the blast: “Nearly all the windows along one popular commercial strip had been blown out and the street was littered with glass, rubble and cars that had slammed into each other after the blast. The buildings in the area that remained standing looked as if they had been skinned, leaving only hulking skeletons.” Emergency workers joined the residents of Beirut to search for missing people in the wreckage left by the explosion.

George Kettani, the leader of Lebanon’s Red Cross, says: “What we are witnessing is a huge catastrophe. There are victims and casualties everywhere.” Over 5,000 people have been injured by the explosion, and hospitals are swamped with patients. Ambulances from North and South Lebanon and Bekaa have been sent to help search for people and give medical attention to those who need it. The Public Health Minister, Hamad Hassan, declared that the costs of treating patients at hospitals would be covered by his ministry. In addition to this, Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared that Wednesday, August 5th would be a “national day of mourning.”On Twitter, it was reported that President Michel Aoun commanded the Lebanese military to “aid in the response", while also calling an emergency meeting with the Supreme Defense Council. It was at this meeting that the decision was made to declare Beirut a disaster area. Organizations such as the Lebanese Red Cross, Impact Lebanon, Beit El Baraka, Donner Sang Compter, and the Beirut Blast Victims Release Fund are all accepting donations that will fund first-aid supplies, the rebuilding of damaged homes, blood donations, and food and water.

A large amount of ammonium nitrate, an explosive chemical compound, had been stored in the port where this destructive blast occurred. This material is known to have caused many accidents when accidentally detonated, including a situation in Texas, 1947. In this case, 581 people were killed when a ship carrying ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded. Ammonium nitrate is also a common ingredient in bombs used in terrorist attacks: in 1995, 168 people were killed in the explosion of the federal office building in Oklahoma City.

Prime Minister Diab was quoted as saying: “I will not relax until we find the responsible party for what happened, hold it accountable and apply the most serious punishments against it because it isn’t acceptable that a shipment of ammonium nitrate — estimated to be 2,750 tons — was in a depot for the past six years without precautionary measures being taken.”

According to Forbes, Prime Minister Diab reported that the ammonium nitrate was in storage at the port of Beirut “without ‘preventative measures’” since 2014, when it was taken from a Russian-owned cargo ship. Judges were warned about the large risk that storing these materials posed multiple times from 2014 to 2017. Hassan Koraytem, the general manager of Beirut port, says: “We were told the cargo would be sold in an auction, but the auction never happened and the judiciary never acted.” Four of Koraytem’s employees died in the explosion, and he maintains that “This is not the time to blame. We are living a national catastrophe.” On Wednesday, August 5th, Lebanon’s cabinet decided to put all Beirut port officials who have overseen storage and securing from 2014 and onwards on house arrest. Lebanon’s army will supervise these house arrests as the investigation of the cause of the explosions moves forward.

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