In 2014, the Lebanese government confiscated more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate from a cargo ship in a Beirut port. For six years, that volatile chemical compound sat unprotected and unsecured in a portside warehouse. On Tuesday, it exploded with the force of a small nuclear weapon. A nuclear scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says the explosion was equivalent to 1.1 kilotons of TNT — about 10% of the strength of the Hiroshima bomb. The pier where the compound was stored was leveled and a large crater exists where the warehouse once stood. Buildings for blocks around the port are flattened and countless others are damaged beyond repair. Initial casualty reports, which continue to climb, number more than 100 dead and at least 4,000 injured. The destruction has left at least 300,000 people homeless.
Robin Beres, 'The world prays for Beirut', Richmond Times-Dispatch
