On 4 August 2020, a devastating explosion occurred at the port of Beirut. At least 218 people were killed and 7,000 injured as a result of the explosion. Some 77,000 homes were destroyed. But the blast also caused extensive damage to the port itself, which has had nearly two-years of knock-on effects for the country (and region).
In addition to the homes, thousands of restaurants, grocers, corner stores, and other businesses were destroyed across the enormous blast radius, throwing an already tense economic and political situation into overdrive. More than 50% of all businesses in the nation’s capital are estimated to have been destroyed.
Eighty percent of Lebanon’s wheat is typically imported from Russia and Ukraine. With the war in Ukraine affecting wheat supply around the world, and Lebanon’s inability to store more than one month’s worth of wheat since the destruction of the port’s grain silos, things have the potential to go from bad to worse.
A fire at the silos began burning for weeks in late July, fueled by the fermented grain, prompting Ministry of Health officials to warn of an imminent collapse of the remaining silos and a potential health risk for those within a one-mile radius of the port, which is situated in the central district. The silos began collapsing on July 31, dispersing potentially hazardous dust across the city, as the Health Ministry warned.
