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Everything we know about the Beirut explosion

Writer's picture: MyScoopMyScoop

What caused the explosions?


A pair of explosions, struck havoc in the city of Beirut on Tuesday evening, killing at least 100 people, wounding more than 4,000 and causing terrible damage.


The second blast sent a reddish plume high above the city’s port and created a shock wave that shattered glass for miles, equivalent to a 3.3 magnitude earthquake.


This morning, despite all the best efforts of a search operation, dozens were still missing in the cityHere is a look at what we know and what we don’t.


What caused the explosions?

The cause of the explosion is yet to be determined. The first blast may have been in a firecrackers warehouse at the port. Authorities state the second, all the more wrecking blast in all probability originated from a close-by 2,750-ton reserve of ammonium nitrate, an exceptionally dangerous substance frequently utilized as manure (fertiliser), which Prime Minister Hassan Diab said had been put away in a terminal for a long time.


Investigators will attempt to decide if the impacts were mishaps or deliberately activated. Beirut was inundated in common war from 1975 to 1990 and has seen bombings and strife from that point forward, raising apprehensions of a potential return of viciousness. Be that as it may, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the top of Lebanon's overall security administration, cautioned against theorizing about fear-based oppression before the realities were known.


Where did it happen?

the blasts made serious harm to structures, warehouses and grain storehouses in the port, in the north of the city. Past the modern waterfront, the blasts tore through famous nightlife and shopping locale and thickly populated neighbourhoods. In excess of 750,000 individuals live in the pieces of the city that were harmed.


Indeed, even before the blasts, Lebanon had been experiencing a progression of emergencies, including the plunging estimation of its money, a deluge of displaced people from neighbouring Syria and the coronavirus pandemic. Since last fall, waves of protesters have taken to the streets to vent anger with Lebanon’s political elite over what they consider the mismanagement of the country.


How big were the blasts?

The second explosion was like an earthquake and was felt in Cyprus, more than 100 miles away.

Ammonium nitrate explosions have caused a number of disasters. A ship carrying about 2,000 tons of the compound caught fire and exploded in Texas City, Texas, in 1947, killing 581 people. About two tons of the chemical were used in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people.


How bad was the damage?

Ceilings collapsed, walls and windows were blown out and debris was found far as two miles from the port. Cars were flipped, and rubble from shattered buildings filled city streets. Several hospitals, already strained from the coronavirus pandemic, were severely damaged. At the Bikhazi Medical Group hospital in the centre of the city, a ceiling fell on some patients, the hospital director said.

The 400-bed St. George Hospital was so extensively damaged that it had to discharge patients and close.


Credits: The New York Tims

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