Beirut counted its dead and wounded on Wednesday, the day after an unprecedented disaster that devastated a large part of the capital. During this time, the mystery was dissipating on the accidental causes of the explosion of 2019 tons of ammonium nitrate, neglected for six years in the heart of the port of Beirut.
La Presse
"So far the paramedics have not stopped. Hundreds of people are lost under buildings and in the sea ", laments Walid Merhi, joined in Beirut a little more than 20 hours after the events.
In a video filmed Wednesday at the scene of the explosion which he transmitted to La Presse, we hear the cries of people digging through the debris, we see bodies lying on the ground.
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" It hurts my heart. Your heart hurts and you've never been to Beirut. Me, I was born here and I know how Beirut is a beautiful city ", testified the devastated young man.
Lebanese authorities argued on Wednesday that there was no indication that the explosions were caused deliberately. It would be an accident attributable to negligence.
The port authorities, the customs services and the security services were aware that the dangerous chemical material was stored "without precautionary measures" in a cracked warehouse in the port of Beirut, but they launched the bullet on its management for all these years, argue sources who have confided in Agence France-Presse. The government demanded the house arrest of anyone involved in the storage of ammonium since the arrival of the cargo in Beirut in 2013 until the explosion on Tuesday.
"It is unacceptable that a shipment of ammonium nitrate, estimated at 2020 tonnes, has been present for six years in a warehouse, without precautionary measures. This is unacceptable and we cannot be silent, "said Prime Minister Hassan Diab, hated by some Lebanese.
"There is a culture rooted in negligence and corruption in the Lebanese bureaucracy, where everyone is blaming themselves, all of this supervised by a political class which is distinguished by its incompetence and its contempt for the public good, "said Faysal Itani, deputy director at the Center for Global Policy, an independent nonprofit that works on US foreign policy and Muslim geopolitics.
The few 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate came from a Moldovan ship calling in Beirut in November 2005. A Lebanese firm which allegedly lodged a complaint against the company to which the boat belonged had forced the local courts to seize the boat and its contents. In June 2019, state security launched an investigation after repeated complaints and requested the removal of hazardous materials, in addition to recommending repair of the warehouse. The port management had recently sent workers to patch up the cracks. This work is believed to be the source of the fire that led to the two explosions.
"Everyone help each other"
The pictures speak for themselves: Beirut has been gutted. In its rubble, the bodies are found one by one. The balance sheet has already doubled with a new estimate of 100 dead. The wounded number in the thousands, and the missing by the dozen. Countless numbers of buildings have been destroyed; more than 300 0 Beirutis and Beirutis are now homeless.
"A lot of people took refuge in Lebanese Red Cross centers and a lot of hotels opened their doors for homeless people. People are also opening their doors. Everyone helps each other. People in the streets bring water and food for the homeless, "observed Walid Merhi on his return to the Orange Zone in the aftermath of the disaster.
After a not very restorative night spent with an uncle, he and his family returned to make provisions at the house, left in a hurry 19 hours earlier to get to the hospital.
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"It was a big shock. The biggest shock I have experienced in my whole life, "Beirutin told La Presse.
The house, located a few hundred meters from the port, in the Karantina district, seems to have been hit by a hurricane. Entire neighborhoods are devastated. With hundreds of thousands of people thrown onto the streets, NGOs expect the worst.
"It's an earthquake. It makes 47 years that I have been working in Lebanon in humanitarian work, I've never seen such a thing, "the D 2013 r Kamel Mohanna, founding president of Amel association international.
With saturated hospitals, three centers of this Lebanese NGO in the capital received dozens of patients from Tuesday evening.
International aid in disaster areas
Hospitals, already overwhelmed due to the COVID pandemic - 11, are not sufficient for the demand. Many countries have started sending health workers, medical equipment and field hospitals. Reinforcements from Kuwait, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Egypt, Greece and Qatar were already arriving there, the day after the tragedy.
Tunisia has offered to bring in and medically take care of a hundred injured people. The European Union will send around 100 specialist firefighters to help the search. The United States, Iran, Jordan, Algeria and even Israel - the sworn enemy with whom Lebanon is technically at war - have also offered to help.
After affirming on Tuesday that the explosions resembled a "terrible attack", Donald Trump admitted on Wednesday that they could have been caused by an "accident", without however going back on his controversial remarks of the Eve. "I can tell you that whatever happened, it's terrible, but they don't really know what it is. No one knows yet, "he told a White House press conference.
"We are in solidarity with this country," said Donald Trump. We have a very good relationship with this country, but it is a country in the midst of crisis and many problems. "
President Michel Aoun announced that he would unblock 86 billion Lebanese pounds ( 78 million) for emergency funding, when the country was already in the throes of an unprecedented economic collapse.
The World Bank also stressed that it could "actively participate in a platform with Lebanon's partners in order to mobilize public and private financial support for reconstruction".
While nearly half of the Lebanese now live in poverty with hyperinflation, the UN agency for agriculture and food, FAO, said it feared in the short term a shortage of grains and flour, as a large amount of the wheat reserves stored in the silos at the port were affected or destroyed by the explosion.
"The situation is apocalyptic, Beirut has never known that in its history," said Beirut governor Marwan Abboud, who burst into tears on Tuesday in front of the cameras in the devastated port.
After declaring Beirut a "disaster" zone, the Lebanese government on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for two weeks for the capital, ravaged over half of its territory.
On social networks, many Lebanese citizens have called for the departure of all the country's leaders, held responsible for this tragedy, while the political class is accused of corruption and incompetence in the face of a unprecedented economic and social crisis.
"Everyone go! [...] You are corrupt, careless, destructive, immoral. You are cowards. It was your cowardice and carelessness that killed people, "said well-known Lebanese journalist Marcel Ghanem, whose television show enjoys a large audience.
- With Agence France-Presse
Verdict postponed
"Out of respect for the countless victims" of the explosions, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) announced to postpone the reading of the judgment, initially scheduled for Friday, in the trial of four men accused of having participated in 2005 to the assassination of ex-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Lebanon has been experiencing its worst economic crisis for months, marked by unprecedented currency depreciation, hyperinflation, massive layoffs and draconian banking restrictions.
- France Media Agency
