Posted on 08/05/2020 11:45:13 AM PDT by Red Badger
Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Authorities in Beirut have increased the death count from the devastating explosions on Tuesday to at least 135, while one official said Wednesday it could cost Lebanon's capital as much as $5 billion to recover.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun called for an emergency Cabinet meeting and asked for a two-week state of emergency.
Beirut Gov. Marwan Abboud said about 300,000 were homeless after the blasts and estimated repair costs in the billions. Lebanese Red Cross workers searched abandoned neighborhoods on Wednesday, reporting more than 5,000 injured.
Abboud told local media that damages could range from $3 billion to $5 billion, or "maybe more." The death toll was in the dozens on Tuesday and had risen to triple digits on Wednesday, the Red Cross said.
Officials said they expect the toll to rise as they dig through the debris.
Authorities believe an initial explosion occurred at a warehouse near Beirut's port and ignited a fire, followed by multiple smaller explosions and, finally, a massive blast that caused the most damage. They said stored ammonium nitrate in the area was the likely source.
Seismologists said the biggest explosion was equivalent to a 3.3-magnitude earthquake.
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, declaring Wednesday a national day of mourning, has vowed to investigate the explosions and said anyone who may have facilitated them will be held accountable.
Diab said it has long been known that storing ammonium nitrate at the location was a hazard.
The accident could not have come at a worse time for Lebanon, which has been fighting to overcome a major economic crisis because of the devaluation of its currency. Officials said silos that held about 85% of Lebanon's grain were destroyed in the blasts.
Raoul Nehme, Lebanon's economy minister, said seven employees at the port's granaries are missing and that Lebanon now has less than a month's worth of grain reserves.
At least two Instagram accounts were established for those looking for loved ones in Beirut. One of the accounts also is posting lists of people admitted to various hospitals in the city, to help people find family members.
The World Health Organization said it's sending 23 tons of aid from its warehouse in Dubai, including medical trauma kits carrying syringes, bandages and gauze.
Germany has sent a team that includes dozens of search and rescue experts to aid with finding survivors and victims. France, Qatar, Iraq and Kuwait are said they are also sending supplies.
any explosion that would make 300K homeless would certainly kill well into the thousands I would think.
No. The US needs no more people.
Only China and India are more populated.
People need to fix their own countries.
Question One: How much money will they demand from the USA in "aid"?Question Two: How long will it take them to blame the USA for this explosion?
Allahu Akbar!
Fertilizer ship explosion kills 581 in port of Texas City, Texas in 1947:
They have no one to blame but themselves.
They were warned years ago that this was going to happen when they stored the stuff there in 2014.
They didn’t listen....................
Mosad
If anybody, they will blame Israel, but it won’t wash.
They had six years to move that stuff, sell it off or destroy it and they just let it sit, while different government departments basically said, “It’s not MY problem.”.............
They should have been storing it way, way out in the desert, at least 5 miles away from anything else.
Exactly, and how unusual is an explosion in Lebanon?
300,019
You know how we have weather reports here well over there they have bombing forcasters
The death total is a lot higher, that is just the number of bodies found thus far.
Some will never be found.
From Samantha Marika’s Twitter feed...smart girl, BTW,
In the last 36 hours explosions and fires have occurred in:
China
Iraq
UAE
Lebanon
France
....either they dont want us talking about Bill Clinton being with two little girls on Epsteins island or something else is going on...
Stats seam similar to a trailer fire containing illegal aliens.
“Im not really buying the fertilizer excuse
-
Me neither! Just cannot believe this incident was happenstance. Crazy ness prevails in that part of the world and anything and everything is suspect.”
I have a friend who’s EOD and he said that it wasn’t pyro (fireworks) but looked more like ammonium nitrate that he estimated at 2500 to 5000 tons when he viewed the video the day of the blast.
There was a news report I read today where it’s been said that there was approx 3000 tons in the warehouse.
Read that same from another EOD guy
In 2006 I worked for a fertilizer company. As I recall around that time, in the USA a huge amount of ammonium nitrate was lost. I think it finally showed up in Lebanon.
My boss was concerned that it would end up in the wrong hands.
He was correct.
I wonder if that missing jetliner is sitting somewhere in Lebanon...
mark
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