An Explosion In The Capital City Of Lebanon-Beirut; What Are The Facts Behind The Blast And Future Strategies

Beirut, Capital city of Lebanon!

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon in western Asia. Because of being populous, it is ranked as the fifteenth largest city of the Arab world with 1 million to 2.2 million population (2007). 

Tuesday’s explosion in Beirut (4 August 2020)!

In this capital city of Lebanon, a blast occurred on Tuesday and ruined many lives, people, and buildings. The blast happened near the central port area of the city where a bigger smoke cloud could be seen emerging around. 

There were about two Blasts in Beirut on Tuesday afternoon (local time) those occurred just one after the other in minutes. The first footage of blast was barely captured initially but later on many stories and videos emerged on social media. In the captured scenario it could be seen and understood that the two explosions occurred in different buildings. Withdrawing from the footage, it was apparent that the blast fire from one building reached the other building bearing a big disaster.  

To what distance the blast damage reached?

The blast damage circumcised the area of 10 Km away from the site of its origin. The Baabda Palace, the residence of the Lebanese president was also hit and shattered by the blast. 

NNA reported about the palace that “Doors and windows in several places of the palace were displaced. But fortunately, no one was injured. 

On the other side, the blast was felt nearly 250 Km away in the nearby island of Cyprus, according to EMSC (European-Mediterranean seismological center). According to one CNN report, the Beirut explosion generated the strong seismic waves of equivalent 3.3 magnitude earthquake. 

The fact behind the occurrence of the explosion!

The reason for the blast has been told to be the Ammonium Nitrate, an explosive material stored in the buildings. Many reports appear to support the allegations that negligence may have been the cause of the blast. 

The Reuters official (International NEWS) is mentioning a fact about the cause of the blast by receiving the information from the unidentified official source. They had their statement as there have been no actions for years on the removal of Ammonium Nitrate from the central port of Beirut. 

The official source reported to the Reuters that “It is negligence that is the reason for this blast. Saying more that the matter was conducted before many judges and committees but no decision was made either it would be destroyed or disposed of”. 

One source reported that the fire started from the Warehouse 9 started and reached the warehouse 12 on Tuesday where the Ammonium Nitrate was stocked.  Another source had also told the Reuters about that a team that inspected the Ammonium Nitrate 6 months ago warned that it could blow up all of Beirut if not removed.   

Two weeks Emergency in Lebanon’s!

The Lebanese Government has imposed and announced a two-weeks emergency on the state, with providing all the military powers in the capital efficiently. 

Beirut Port Officials under House-arrest!

Many of the earlier reports have confirmed that the Government of Lebanon has decided to interrogate and put an unspecified number of the port officials under house arrest. The government would investigate how 2,750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate came to be stocked at the port for years. 

What’s the recent death toll and the ratio of injured people in Beirut? 

According to Al Manar T.V, a Lebanese news channel, the death toll has been reached to 135 killed and around 5000 people wounded (5:02 pm BST). But a huge number of people are still missing.