On August 4, 2020, at the Port of Beirut, a warehouse exploded. At first, people just thought that the warehouse caught on fire, but they were wrong.  This explosion levelled buildings and caused extensive damage all over the capital. This explosion killed 200 people and is estimated to have injured over 2,000.

The cause of the fire is believed to be because of welding work being carried out on a hole in the warehouse. CNN quoted a worker that said, “We were asked to fix a door of the warehouse by State Security and we did that at noon, but what occurred in the afternoon I have no idea”. “There were 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that was unsafely kept at the warehouse”, says Lebanon’s prime minister, Hassan Diab. The ammonium nitrate was not stored properly so when the fire spread it set what the ammonium nitrate was in on fire.  That fire initiated the blast after it was mixed with the harmful chemicals. 

Andrea Sella, professor of chemistry at University College London, told BBC that “The real problem is that over time it will absorb little bits of moisture and it eventually turns into an enormous rock”. When it forms into a rock it becomes even more explosive. This is not the first time this has happened. A ship that had 2,000 tonnes of this chemical exploded in Texas killing 581 people. 

This was a very traumatizing experience for the citizens of Lebanon. They saw their friends and family die in front of them and could not do anything about it. Fatima, who is a citizen of Lebanon told oxfam, “When I saw him all covered in blood, from his head [to] his shoulder, I couldn’t handle it”. Like many in Beirut, Fatima’s home was severely damaged. “I’m afraid of the ground floor,” she says. “The smallest movement and it might collapse. This is an old building”.

This capital is home to more than two million people. It was hard to treat people for their injuries because the hospitals got overwhelmed so fast. The head of the Labanese Red Cross, George Kettani, told CNN that “What we are witnessing is a huge catastrophe, there are victims and casualties everywhere”.  The people are trying to get back on their feet and do anything they can to help others.