"No words can describe the horror" Lebanon reels after a devasting explosion in Beirut

 VOX

• In the Lebanese capital of Beirut, at least 135 people are dead and some 5,000 more are injured as the city continues to grapple with the aftermath of a massive explosion that shook the city Tuesday. The death toll is expected to rise. [Al Jazeera / Ted Regencia, Linah Alsaafin, and Farah Najjar]

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• Details of what happened are still emerging, but photos and video show a massive blast that leveled buildings near the Beirut port. According to the city’s governor, the explosion, which was felt as far as 100 miles away in Cyprus, “destroyed more than half the Lebanese capital.” [NPR / Bill Chappell and Ruth Sherlock]
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• The source of the explosion is believed to have been a warehouse storing around 2,750 metric tons of the chemical ammonium nitrate, which can be explosive when mixed with fuel and exposed to heat. [CNN / Laura Smith-Spark, Sam Kiley, and Rob Picheta]
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• As of Wednesday, Beirut port officials have been placed on house arrest, and Lebanese officials told the AP the explosion may have been caused by negligence. An investigation is underway. [AP / Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam]
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• It’s hard to imagine a worse time for a catastrophe to strike Lebanon. Even before Tuesday, the small Middle Eastern country was buckling under the weight of an accelerating economic crisis and chronic food and medicine shortages, along with the coronavirus pandemic. [Washington Post / Liz Sly]
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• Silos near the harbor holding as much as 85 percent of the country’s grain supply were damaged or destroyed in the blast, according to the New York Times, and debris was flung in a two-mile radius. [NYT / Anjali Singhvi, Scott Reinhard, Allison McCann, Lauren Leatherby, and Blacki Migliozzi]
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• International aid has already started pouring in. France, Qatar, and many other nations have dispatched medical workers, supplies, and search and rescue teams to the stricken city. [Yahoo News / AFP]
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• But that might not be enough to salvage things in Lebanon. Some observers believe the country is headed for a Venezuela-like downward spiral. Unemployment already stands at 25 percent, Lebanon’s currency, the lira, is in free fall, and there’s a political crisis brewing. [Vox / Alex Ward]
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• The result could well be another refugee crisis, with millions of Lebanese — in addition to Lebanon’s sizable population of Syrian refugees — potentially fleeing the country, though with the Mediterranean on one side and Syria on the other, their options are limited. [Vox / Alex Ward]