Beirutista

The past 15 hours have completely upended life in Lebanon as we know it. I've been struggling to deal with the sheer magnitude of the brutality and the horrible aftermath it leaves in its wake. For those who haven't yet heard, nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the port of Beirut , at the heart of the capital, leveling the city with a radial arm of destruction of 10 km out. There are thousands of human casualties, and the death toll continues to rise as victims are unearthed from beneath the rubble. If you see footage of the blast, you'd think it were a nuclear bomb. Its effects are nothing short of apocalyptic, taking away innocent lives and rendering immeasurable damage to the denizens and businesses of Beirut. Why such large quantities of ammonium nitrate, typically used as an agricultural fertilizer, were stored at a port warehouse for six years and neglected without adequate safety measures is criminal. Port of Beirut rocked by an explosion o