On the evening of 4 August 2020, at 18:08 EEST, an extremely powerful explosion occurred in the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The blast, which occurred after a fire at the Port of Beirut, left at least 135 people dead, 80 more missing, and more than 5,000 injured. Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud estimated that up to 300,000 people were left homeless by the explosions. The Lebanese government declared a two-week state of emergency. The main explosion was linked to about 2,750 tonnes (3,030 short tons) of ammonium nitrate equivalent to 1.1 kilotons of TNT (4.6 TJ) that had been confiscated by the government from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus and stored in the port without proper safety measures for six years. Despite inefficient transmission of the shock waves into the ground, the explosion was detected as a seismic event of magnitude 3.3 by the United States Geological Survey. By the following day, 5 August, the fire was largely extinguished.
The economy of Lebanon was in a state of crisis before the explosions, with the government having defaulted on debt, the Lebanese pound plunging and a poverty rate that had risen past 50%. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic had overwhelmed many of the country's hospitals, several of which already were short of medical supplies and unable to pay staff because of the financial crisis. The morning before the explosion, the head of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, which served as the main coronavirus medical facility in Lebanon, warned that it was approaching full capacity. The government-owned Port of Beirut serves as the main maritime entry point into Lebanon and a vital piece of infrastructure to import scarce goods. The port included 4 basins, 16 quays, 12 warehouses, and a grain silo that served as a strategic reserve of wheat for the country. The Beirut Naval Base is a part of the port.
0 Comments