08/05/2020 - 17:03
- Clarín.com
- International
After the huge explosion that left half the city bloody and ruined, Beirut woke up on Wednesday to an apocalyptic scene. And at the same time, with the passing of the hours, new images and videos appeared that went viral from the moment of the outbreak.
As was the case with the photo shoot prior to the marriage of Israa Seblani, a bride who was smiling and posing in a square, opposite the Hotel Le Gray, in the center of Beirut. It must have been a moment of full happiness, but it was just the opposite.
The cameraman was filming the bride and her bouquet when the second of two explosions occurred that killed more than 100 people and wounded 4,000 others. In the video it is heard first as a loud buzz that draws the cameraman's attention , and a second later the outburst that shakes the bride dressed in white.
Israa Seblani, the bride who was smiling and posing in a plaza in Beirut, was filmed at the exact moment of the explosion.
Immediately, as can the cameraman is remade and shows how a column of dust approaches through a street . The damage to the buildings and the plaza could also be seen. In the final seconds of filming, you can see how someone helped Seblani enter a building.
On the day after, the outlook is bleak: 300,000 people lost their homes in one breath. The costs of destruction exceed 3 billion dollars and could reach 5 billion. There is more. Hospitals set up new morgues. And firefighters search for dead under the rubble. One hundred people do not appear anywhere.
Allegations to the girlfriend help her enter a building after the outbreak in Beirut.
In a country, already immersed in the black hole of an economic crisis that begins to play with the hunger of the population, the explosion swept the grain silos in the port from the face of the planet. Lebanon now has grains for "less than a month" -
The smoking silos, the day after the explosion. / AFP
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Beirut residents woke up to an apocalyptic scene of total devastation
The main streets of the city center were full of rubble and damaged cars with their ari bags detonated and the facades of the buildings torn off.
There are more than 100 dead and 4,000 wounded, said George Kettaneh, a Lebanon Red Cross official, adding that the death toll could rise .
Dozens of people are missing and their relatives asked for help to find them through social networks. An Instagram page called "Locating Victims of Beirut" was filled with photos of the missing, and radio program drivers read the names of the wounded and missing overnight.
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The photos of the tremendous explosion that destroyed part of the port of Beirut
Many residents moved into the homes of friends or relatives after their apartments were damaged and their own wounds healed because hospitals were overflowing. An estimated 300,000 people lost their homes. Hotels and other accommodations opened their doors overnight to welcome them.
The explosion
There is no confirmation of what caused the explosion that had the force of an earthquake. But everything points to an ammonium nitrate deposit that was in the port of Beirut six years ago, despite requests to move it.
Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi told a local channel that the incident appeared to be caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a port warehouse since they were confiscated from a merchant ship in 2014.
Witnesses said they saw an orange cloud like the one that appears when toxic nitrogen dioxide gas is released after an explosion with nitrates. Ammonium nitrate is a common ingredient in fertilizers, but it can also be highly explosive.
This product was used in an attack in Oklahoma City in 1995, when a truck with 4,100 kilos (4,800 pounds) of fertilizer and fuel destroyed a federal building, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more.
The explosion was the most powerful recorded in the city, which was on the front line during the civil war (1975-1990) and has endured conflicts with neighboring Israel and periodic terrorist attacks and bombings.
Videos showed what appeared to be a fire start in the immediate vicinity just before the outbreak, and local broadcasters reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved. The fire seemed to spread to a nearby building, causing the explosion, the mushroom cloud, and the blast wave.
There was no evidence that the Beirut explosion was an attack.
"L'Apocalypse" ("The Apocalypse"), said the cover of the French newspaper L'Orient Le Jour. Another newspaper, al-Akhbar, published on its front page a photograph of the destroyed port with the phrase "The great collapse "
Economic crisis and Covid
Lebanon was already on the verge of collapse due to a severe economic crisis that caused massive protests in recent months. Hospitals were facing a spike in COVID-19 infections and are concerned that the coronavirus may spread more as the population overflows hospitals.
Security forces cordoned off the port area on Wednesday after a bulldozer entered to remove the wreckage. A young man pleaded with the soldiers to let him through to look for his dad, who has been missing since the incident. He was redirected to a port official who noted the details.
In one of the worst affected districts, Achrafieh , civil defense workers and soldiers were trying to locate the missing and clean up the rubble. At least one man was still trapped under the stones of an old building that collapsed. The volunteers gave him an oxygen bottle to help him breathe while others tried to free his leg.
Soldiers search for bodies in the rubble. / AP
The blast tore apart numerous apartment buildings, potentially leaving large numbers of people homeless at a time when many Lebanese have lost their jobs and seen their savings evaporate due to the currency crisis. There is also concern about how the country will continue to import almost all essential goods with its main port devastated.
In a short televised address, Prime Minister Hassan Diab called on all Lebanese countries and friends to expand their aid: "We are witnessing a real catastrophe." The leader reiterated his promise that those responsible for the disaster will pay therefore, without commenting on the cause.
As a consequence of the tragedy, three days of mourning have been declared in the country.
