What has happened in Beirut? 50 dead, thousands injured

There are nearly a million Syrian refugees in Lebanon too, about a quarter of the population of Lebanon. They are people who have left their own devastated, war torn country for the relative safety of a neighbour only for this to happen.

Many have returned home recently as Lebanon was struggling to cope.

I shouldn't get snippy, should I.
But you're right, Grandad.

Callistemon

Start another thread if you like, paddyanne

This is about BEIRUT and what has actually happened there.

Callistemon to some people nationalist politics are the be-all and end-all of everything in their lives.

To express sympathy for those in Beirut that have friends and family dead or seriously injured and the hundreds of thousands that no longer have a livable home to shelter in would not enter their minds.

Start another thread if you like, paddyanne

This is about BEIRUT and what has actually happened there.

[sigh]
Distraction techniques.

DH visited Beirut a few times very many years ago and has always said what a beautiful city it was.
Who can forget the dreadful scenes we used to see in the 70s right through to 1990 when civil war was raging, so many people died and many more left. The rebuilding took years but was controversial as so much of historical value had been lost.

It is horrendous that this should happen now and through negligence.

The USUAL DISREGARD FOR ITS OWN CITIZENS ....I totally get that .The MOD put out a statement saying they couldn't possibley keep nuclear weapons in Devonport because....now this is interesting" the danger to hundreds of thousands of English people was not acceptable" ..its on file if you want to check.SO ....they store weapons under a hollowed out hill at Coulport and have nuclear weapons at Faslane and chick waste in our rivers ...they've just announced that the waste will rise by 50 TIMES .Not 50% ..

Where is the abomination all sited? Why less than 30 miles from Glasgow it wouldn't harm 200,000 it would kill millions and devasted large areas .When Philip Hammond was asked about North Korea having nuclear weapons he said " Nuclear wont make them SAFER it makes them a TARGET " So thanks UK for painting a bullseye target on my home !!Its 75 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki ,it seems the world learned begger all from the destruction of lives ,yet everyone is incensed about FERTILISER !!

I’m a regular visitor to Beirut. I have family there. The children and grandchildren of my cousin who was shot dead taking her children to school during the troubles many many moons ago.

They’re all fine apart from superficial injuries some of them got when one side of grandads apartment was blown off. They’d just nipped into see him. How they escaped unscathed I’ll never know as the pictures of what’s left of the apartment are horrendous.

I think they’ll head to their summer house in the mountains now but I won’t be surprised in the least if they say nope, we’re staying put.

The Lebanese are nothing but expert at taking things on the chin.

ladymuck

The country desperately needs outside help to deal with this. Interesting that the French president was the first head of state to visit. Other world leaders are going to be vying with each other to take advantage of the situation to gain power in the region.
This was a tragedy which should not have happened. It was sheer incompetence. Those responsible will hopefully, be brought to account for the deaths of all those people.

The reason the French President was the first to visit is because Lebanon was a French colony and France had the League of Nations mandate there until the middle of the last century. French is the second language and the two countries have close connections.

I thought it was brave of Macron to go out on to the streets and meet the people. Where were Lebanon's own politicians?
It is due to their incompetence this catastrophe has happened.

I hope we can send more help, £5m is just a start, surely.

The usual disregard for the safety of their citizens is a huge factor here.

The country desperately needs outside help to deal with this. Interesting that the French president was the first head of state to visit. Other world leaders are going to be vying with each other to take advantage of the situation to gain power in the region.
This was a tragedy which should not have happened. It was sheer incompetence. Those responsible will hopefully, be brought to account for the deaths of all those people.

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun has stated that the huge explosion that took place in Beirut may have been caused by an outside rocket or bomb attack. The forgoing obviously Mr Aoun believes takes responsibility for the tragedy away from him as the leader of the country.

However, what Aoun seems to forget is the fact that the huge quantity of ammonium nitrate had been stored in that dockside warehouse since 2013, and being that Lebanon has existed in a war zone throughout that entire period would have made the warehouse and it's contents a prime target for an attack.

Even if the attack theory is correct, with the above knowledge successive governments did nothing in regard to removing and destroying the chemical or carrying out the most rudimentary security to guard it against attack. Instead, those successive government ministers have lined their pockets with corruption money and then departed the scene.

It is little wonder that the French president was mobbed by Beirut's devastated residents begging him for help as many must feel that they were far better off under French rule than that of their own totally corrupt regimes that have successively ruled the country since independence.

I am sure all hearts go out to the many hundreds of thousands of innocent people and families caught up in this terrible human-made corruption disaster.

World wide Ammonium Nitrate production is over 20 million tons, surprising to me 40% of that is used for explosives, most of the rest is Fertiliser to grow the food you eat, there are 2 alternatives, Urea, and Calcium Ammonium Nitrate neither are explosive Urea is cheaper, CAN is slightly more expensive.
Why Ammonium Nitrate was in store close to a war zone where terrorism is a risk is unbelievable, it is very easy to make a bomb using it, no doubt other countries will be looking at their own facilities. However it must be realized that Ammonium Nitrate is transported in bulk shiploads of several thousand tons.

In Beirut there was smaller explosion before the main blast, that seemed to be fireworks or maybe ammunition stored close to the Ammonium Nitrate. The force of the blast was said to be 10% of the Hiroshima bomb, the largest ever non nuclear explosion.

rosecarmel

It's a catastrophe- One that can be traced back to negligent agricultural practices- It's a global issue-

The direct cause of this catastrophe, if the reports of a welders blowtorch starting a chain event are correct, would be that an operating welders blowtorch should never have been anywhere in the vicinity of those thousands of tons of Ammonium nitrate.

Should it have been that a welding operation in the vicinity of the chemicals was unavoidable, then fire and spark-proof screening should have been set up with full risk assessments carried out prior too and after those safe working measures had been put in place.

The root cause of the disaster undoubtedly may be the widespread use of Ammonium nitrate in farming. However, that is a worldwide farming issue and until that chemicals use is prohibited the security, handling and storage of the substance has to be carried out safely and securely.

It's a catastrophe- One that can be traced back to negligent agricultural practices- It's a global issue-

Apparently it was caused by a spark from a welder being used,that poor man wouldn`t have known what hit him.
Feel so sorry for them all but lessons should be learned about keeping that kind of chemical in populated cities.

I saw that rosecarmel

Apparently the blast was heard and felt in Cyprus, 100 miles away. They thought it was an earthquake.

One family with small children was watching the first fire through the windows of their flat when the explosion occurred and filming it. The windows blew in and, as far as I know, they weren't badly hurt. They must be very shocked.

There is a video circulating of a bride posing for her photo shoot when the explosion occured- You can hear what sounds like a faint explosion in the distance, then seconds later the blast arrives where she is at- I don't know how far away she was from the explosion itself-

m.youtube.com/watch?v=8SovqKGFlho

i read that the magnitude of the explosion was about one fifth of that at hiroshima. without the nuclear fallout of course.
strangely today is also hiroshima day.

MaizieD and Floradora

It was reported yesterday that this cargo had been in transit six years ago, the ship called into Beirut and the cargo was impounded.
It had been stored in that warehouse ever since.

If, of course, that initial report was correct.

300,000 people displaced from their homes and thousands injured during a pandemic, their hospitals already filled with covid patients-

The scenes being shown on our television screens tonight are appalling and hearts all around the world are saddened in the thoughts of what has happened to a nation of people who have already been through so much.

In Britain, we are fortunate to live in a country where there are strict controls on chemical products such as Ammonium nitrate which if not stored and handled correctly can become extremely volatile.

It is the duty of everyone in the UK to ensure that the safety legislation we have at present is maintained, for it was the limited relaxation of that legislation that brought about the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

The Beirut Tragedy has immensely demonstrated what can happen when what many call red tape work is dispensed with almost wholly.

Floradora9

Not in transit MaizieD it has been there fom 6 years and every year it was getting more and more dangerous . I know people who have lost their homes and the state of the economy means they might get nothing back .

Thanks, Floradora. As I read further last night I realised that my information wasn't quite correct.

There must be questions asked about the security of its storage, I suppose.

Apparently much of Lebanon's much needed imported grain was stored at the port and was destroyed in the blast and fire. I hope the world rallies round to help...

Not in transit MaizieD it has been there fom 6 years and every year it was getting more and more dangerous . I know people who have lost their homes and the state of the economy means they might get nothing back .

So very sad to read about this dreadful explosion. As has already been said I hope that the rest of the world rally round to help them

A dear friend is there on mission just now and posted that it was like being in the centre of a large earthquake (she has experience) the top floors of the Hotel collapsed and all the windows blew in. They are all safe but many parts of the city are very dangerous.
Truly tragic and the Hospitals are overwhelmed.