I stand corrected.
[I stand corrected.]
The US, in the wake of a globe-spanning war that saw widespread use of all kinds of volatile chemicals, a massive governmental apparatus that sprang up to fight that war and a general reputation for competence, failed to foresee the Texas disaster. There was no hope that Lebanon, with its mishmash of literally warring tribes, ethnicities and religions, could have foreseen this. Everyone’s too consumed in the day-to-day business of trying not to be stomped by the various protection rackets at work there for anyone to be thinking about the big picture (i.e. things like chemicals, the appropriate storage facilities and environment and a routine inspection regime).