There was an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon where 100 people died and more than 4000 are reported to be injured. The Lebanese officials say that the explosion was caused by “confiscated high explosive material”.
Beirut is the capital city of Lebanon, a West Asian country.
Many people captured the explosion on their phones and the visuals are very frightening to watch. Most people were recording an explosion that had already occurred and was devastating in itself. Little that they know that the first explosion would trigger another big explosion that would be devastating for a big part of the city.
The shock-wave from the second blast could be seen coming through the building and shattering people’s windows. It rips everything apart in its way. The mushroom cloud looks like it’s from a nuclear blast. The blast is comparable to that of the 2015 Tinjian blast.
Lebanon Prime Minister, Hassan Diab says that the explosion was caused due to 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a salt of ammonia that is used in fertilisers and explosives. The reason for the first blast, however, is still unknown. The same compound was responsible for the 2015 Tenjin blast that killed more than 160 people.
The current situation in the city is very bad as the atmosphere is currently filled with toxic gases from the blast. People are moving to far areas to avoid toxic gases. The before and after photos reveal the astonishing power of the explosion. It was so powerful that it caved the land beneath it. None of the nearby buildings could survive the blast as most of the buildings were warehouses and factories which are not as strong as other building to being with.
The location of the blast was at the coast which is surrounded by sea at one side. It happening at the side of the city could be the only positive from this incident, if it did happen inside the city, the loss of life could be in thousands.
In this before and after photo, it can be seen that the area around the explosion has been swept across. None of the building in the surrounding areas could survive the explosion. The infrastructure loss would be in millions along with the loss of human lives which is unmeasurable.
There are strict rules made for the storage of explosive materials but still, explosions like these keep on happening all around the world. Stricter rules need to be made, or storage facilities need to be moved far from civilisation to avoid any incident of such kind.
