On Tuesday, the 4th of August, 2020 the city port of Beirut had ravaged by a tremendous blast, a blast this ancient city never experienced in the history of its 5000 years. According to the local sources, it is clear that the main reason behind this problem was a stack of Ammonium Nitrate mixture. Michael Aoun, the president of Lebanon had accredited to this theory on the day of this terrible mishap. But, in a recent press conference on Friday, the president has ignited a possibility of 'External Interference' behind the blast. External Interference signifies the bombing or planned explosion by any enemy of the country.
But the main enemy of the country, Israel has claimed to be
completely out-of-bounds of the facts involving the blast.
The actual reason behind this terrible blast that has taken away 154 precious lives, injuring over 5000 peoples, is still to be 'unknown'.
The most probable and supported theory is that fire in the stack of Ammonium Nitrate has caused this explosion. According to the press briefing on Tuesday, Ammonium Nitrate was left alone on the port side for years. The blast has occurred on a cargo vessel that was left unhandled for seven years!
According to scientists, Ammonium Nitrate is safe if treated properly. When this compound is stacked or mistreated in any way then that can cause ignition and blast. Then, how come 2750 tons of this mixture was even allowed to be stacked of a city port like this?
The answer is not that simple. Incompetent bureaucracy, deep-rooted corruption, and an absence of proper management are the main things that have triggered this unfortunate incident.
Will there be any justice for all those innocents? How 250,000 people who became homeless will ever get back on their rooms? Given the country's record in case of inquiries on governmental oversight and corruption, the main big fishes will never spend in the court. Only some low-level workers will be fired from their jobs to cover the actual negligencies.
In the quest to find the effect of the blast, we have found out only saddened, heart-melting truths.
The already bankrupted country was on the verge of getting a rebound growth in its economic curve in this year-end. But that uplift will take years if not an eternity. This explosion was just the last nail on the coffin of the fragile economy, that was sunk well deep enough in foreign debts.
The blast had instantaneously vanished the food stock stored near the city port, affecting the whole city-wide people. Food prices
have gone through the roof, indexes indicating a 274% overall increase. 75% of the civilians will have to queue, begging for food from the food handouts by the year-end. But the real question is- Will there be enough food to give out to these poor people?
The waves of the pandemic patients pandemic already overwhelmed the medical infrastructure of the city, this blast is just going to push their backs against the wall. Hospital beds, ICUs were almost full in the pre-blast moments due to the city has also failed to control the outbreak. Soon after the blast took so many lives and left more injured, the hospitals became overcrowded, again showcasing the lack of proper management at the time of disaster.
Besides affecting civilian lives, this explosion is going to take its effect on the political side also. The destruction of property and public rage will affect the stance of the standing government, if not collapsing it ultimately. Hezbollah will try to increase its influence in the country utilizing this case, while the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt along with the former PM Saad Hariri will do the same for their benefit.
The blast lasted for a few seconds only. But the reverberations of it is going to project Beirut at least 10-15 years backward. The aftershocks of this unprecedented catastrophe are here to stay. The actual truth that likely has taken away 154 innocent lives will never come out in public. Like Chernobyl, Bhopal disaster, or other man-made disasters that happened in the past, the men who are truly responsible for this tragedy will never show their faces in a courtroom.
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