Qualla: 2020 Beirut Explosion

2020 Beirut Explosion: Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The ammonium nitrate had been sitting in Warehouse 12 at the Port of Beirut for six years. Twenty-seven hundred and fifty tonnes of it, confiscated in 2014 from an impounded cargo ship, stored without adequate safety measures while Lebanese officials wrote letters, filed reports, and did nothing. On the afternoon of August 4, 2020, a fire broke out in an adjacent warehouse. When it reached the ammonium nitrate, the resulting explosion released energy equivalent to 1.1 kilotons of TNT -- ranking it among the most powerful non-nuclear detonations ever recorded and the largest single detonation of ammonium nitrate in history.

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2020 Beirut Explosion: The Ship Nobody Wanted

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The MV Rhosus, a Moldovan-flagged cargo ship, set sail from Batumi, Georgia, on September 27, 2013, bound for Beira, Mozambique, carrying 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate destined for an African explosives manufacturer. The ship was owned through a Panamanian shell company, and i...

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2020 Beirut Explosion: 6:07 PM

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The explosion generated a seismic event measuring 3.3 on the local magnitude scale, detected by the United States Geological Survey. Its shockwave was felt across Lebanon and in neighboring Syria, Israel, and Cyprus -- more than 240 kilometers away. Scientific studies later found...

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2020 Beirut Explosion: The Human Cost

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Two hundred and eighteen people died. More than 7,000 were injured. Approximately 300,000 were left homeless in a city already buckling under economic collapse. The dead included citizens of at least 22 countries -- a reflection of Beirut's cosmopolitan character and the port's c...

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2020 Beirut Explosion: A Country Already Broken

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The explosion struck a nation in freefall. Lebanon's economy had already collapsed: the government had defaulted on its debt, the Lebanese pound had plunged, and the poverty rate exceeded 50 percent. COVID-19 was straining hospitals -- the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Lebano...

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2020 Beirut Explosion: The Crater and the Inquiry

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

From the air, the explosion's footprint is unmistakable. The crater at the port, the collapsed silos, and the blast radius extending through surrounding neighborhoods remain visible. The Lebanese government declared a two-week state of emergency and pledged aid, but the subsequen...

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