Between 200,000 and 250,000 people have been rendered homeless after a massive blast at Beirut port destroyed many buildings, Beirut City governor Marwan Abboud said.
Abboud told MTV News that the authorities were working on providing the displaced with food, water and shelter.
He revealed that a security report from 2014 warned of the possibility of an explosion in Lebanon’s capital as highly explosive materials had not been stored in a way to ensure public safety.
“We lost 10 members of the Beirut Fire Brigade and damages range between 3 [billion] and 5 billion dollars and maybe more,” Abboud said.
Homelessness is not the only fallout from the tragedy.
Raoul Nehme, Lebanon’s economy minister said the explosion destroyed the main grain silo at Beirut port, along with the wheat inside.
The destruction, he said, has left Lebanon with less than a month’s reserves of the grain.
Raoul Nehme told Reuters on Wednesday that the country needed reserves for at least three months to ensure food security.
He added that the country was looking at other storage areas.
However, he also gave hope of filling the supply vacuum, as he said vessels with supplies are on the way.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Tuesday that the blast came from about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse in Beirut’s port for six years without safety measures.
