A terrible explosion occurred in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, just after 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on the evening of Tuesday, the 4th of August 2020. This began with a fire at the port which eventually exploded a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse on the port.
As per the Lebanese President Michel Aoun about 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored unsafely in a warehouse for six years. This was confiscated from a ship in 2013. The president proposed a two week state of emergency in a cabinet meeting. He also announced a relief package of 66 Million US dollar.
Lebanon will observe a mourning period of three days from Wednesday.
The explosion was massive. As per the latest reports the explosion has left 78 dead and 4000 plus injured. The authorities fear more dead people under the debris of the buildings damaged in the blast. The rescue teams worked the whole night through to Wednesday morning searching for survivors. Rescue workers are continue to search through rubble and the death toll is expected to rise. Many are missing and the families are searching for their loved ones in the hospitals & in & around the site of the blast.
Hospitals in and around the port were damaged thus creating a shortage of medical facilities. Streets were paved with shattered glass & debris from the buildings and the cars in the area. TV and radio presenters in Lebanon read the names of the missing & wounded, throughout the night.
The explosion occurred at a very sensitive time. Lebnon is faced with an economic crisis & tensions are also high because of the Friday’s court verdict over the killing of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. All this happened amidst the corona pandemic, when the number of infection are on an increase.
The tremors of the blast were felt as far as 240km (150 miles) away at the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.
Let us all join hands in prayer of those who left us and for those who are struggling. It is high time we as humans realize that we are far away from the possibility of migrating to another planet or galaxy any time soon & earth is all what we have. We have to put the difference of country, language, religion, caste, creed color, beliefs and opinion and learn to live as one. Learn to live as a human being first. We have to learn to be compassionate, generous & loving. Only then can we think of living in paradise. There is no heaven like earth.
Food for thought: What if god tells you – Earth was the heaven I created for you.
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