Videos show the explosion in Beirut 0:56
(CNN) - When an explosion ripped through the Lebanese capital on Tuesday afternoon, it wreaked havoc in almost every neighborhood in Beirut.
Buildings up to 10 kilometers from the scene of the explosion were damaged. Shards of glass filled the streets, and the street lights were destroyed. The explosion was recorded as a magnitude 3.3 earthquake, the US Geological Survey said.
So was the explosion that shook Beirut 0:25At least 78 people died and more than 4,000 were injured, the health minister told Reuters, and city residents rushed to hospitals to donate blood.
"I was on the veranda when the whole neighborhood shook from left to right," Bane Fakih, a filmmaker living in the far west of the city, told CNN. «It was very intense. I never felt a fear like that.
Sirens sounded as ambulances rushed to pick up the wounded, many of whom were emerging from the rubble of their homes.
The explosion at the Beirut port formed a mushroom cloud and could be heard on the outskirts of the city. A giant red cloud loomed over the capital when city residents, about 4 million people, began to discover the extent of the damage to their homes, sought treatment for their injuries, and frantically called loved ones to see if they were safe.
"The port of Beirut is totally destroyed," witness Bachar Ghattas told CNN, describing the unfolding scene as something akin to "an apocalypse."
"It is very, very scary what is happening right now and people are going crazy," he said. "The emergency services are overwhelmed."
There were conflicting reports about the cause of the blast, which was initially blamed on a large fire in a firecracker warehouse near the port. The director of the general security directorate later said that the explosion was caused by confiscated "highly explosive materials", but did not provide further details.
CNN's Ben Wedeman reported that authorities believe a large amount of ammonium nitrate seized from a ship in 2013 or 2014 may have caused the explosion.
The heartbreaking scenes come after almost a year of economic and political turmoil that has thrown Lebanon into uncertainty and, according to many experts, brought it to the brink of collapse. Poverty rose to more than 50%, and scenes of people rummaging through garbage cans for basic necessities have become commonplace.
Young people who a few months ago organized a popular uprising against the country's political class, widely accused of corruption, desperately sought a positive side.
“I have never seen Beirut like this before. Beirut today is like our hearts, "said activist Maya Ammar. We have nothing left. Just when we thought it couldn't get worse, it happened.
"My family and loved ones ask me to go home because they don't want me to breathe any toxins ... but I can't go home. I have friends who have lost their homes, "she added. «Their houses were completely destroyed. I have to go help them.
BeirutExplosion in Beirut
