In the age of social media and fast/easy access to information, it was a couple of minutes only until videos and pictures surfaced and were being shared online. Weirdly, we had been facing severe power shortcuts in recent weeks and the electricity was still on after the explosions. Mobile lines were also still operational. And this was different from any other explosion that had occurred in Lebanon previously. I was relieved to be able to reach out to my closest circle. Friends and family living on different continents were calling to make sure we were ok. I tried to remain as rational as possible to understand what had taken place. Every person had their story. It was fortuitous that the explosions had erupted at a time when most people had already left their work and that Covid precautionary measures were recommended to avoid crowds and public places in general. Was it a retaliation act from Israel? Was it fireworks as our officials claimed? What could have possibly flamed up and set off this way? In the next hours, and over the next week, several theories saw the light.
Our government was quick to deny an Israeli attack. This is somehow strange, especially when Hezbollah confirms it. Then we had the municipality of Tel Aviv displaying the Lebanese flag as a humanitarian gesture to join the world in supporting the Lebanese people. Our authorities did promise a clarification within 5 days but, to date, we still do not know exactly what had happened. Some believe the improper storage of the 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate decomposed from their initial state and hence, the fire that had erupted nearby caused the explosions. Others claim they saw a missile hit the area before the big boom detonated. What is sure is that ammonium nitrate does not burn on its own. So far, videos have shown an enormous fire, and it did not involve fireworks, footage revealing what sounded and looked like ammunition being burned. The reddish-colored cloud points at the ammonium nitrate presence. Then again, we don't really know whether other chemicals and/or weapons burst out at that moment too. Additionally, that mushroom-like cloud remains a mystery. Many compared the explosions to the ones in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and for the first couple of days, people feared that the explosions had been nuclear or due to a biological/tactical weapon, especially that damages reached a large radius within which most glass panels, windows, doors were shattered. Concrete walls crumbled. Houses were leveled. Families found themselves with no roof over their heads, and if it were not for the wheat silos that were completely blown up by the blast and stood as a shield between that port area and the city of Beirut, damages would have reached a much wider range. Some people implied that a large quantity of the ammonium nitrate had already been smuggled out of the port and only a mere 200 to 300 tons were set off, or else the entire city would have been turned into ashes. Read How powerful was the Beirut blast? for more info. Another article that I found to be interesting, as it tackles the scientific perspective on the explosions and the huge blasts that wiped a large part of the city: what does fluid dynamics tell us about the Beirut explosion?
