UN food programme sends 50,000 tonnes of flour to Lebanon to prevent food shortage
The World Food Programme is to send 50,000 tonnes of wheat flour to Lebanon after the blast last week at Beirut’s port destroyed its only silo and all the private stocks held there.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the flour would be “to stabilise the national supply and ensure there is no food shortage in the country”. Flour reserves in Lebanon are estimated to cover demand for six weeks.
The UN report said Beirut port was likely to remain inoperable for at least a month.
The catastrophic explosion last Tuesday killed at least 171 people, injured thousands and plunged Lebanon into a deeper political crisis. Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his government resigned on Monday.
Thousands of people marched near the wrecked port yesterday, remembering those who died in the worst single blast to hit the country.
They observed a minute of silence at 6.08pm local time, the moment on August 4 that thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in the city’s port where it had been stored for more than six years, apparently with the knowledge of top political and security officials.
At that moment yesterday, church bells tolled and mosque loudspeakers recited a call to prayer.
Hundreds marched through the streets of Gemmayzeh carrying portraits of the dead.
“He knew,” read a poster bearing President Michel Aoun’s picture.
Mr Aoun, in office since 2016, said on Friday he was first told of the dangerous stockpile nearly three weeks ago and immediately ordered military and security agencies to do “what was needed”. He suggested his responsibility ended there.
The explosion led to the resignation of the government on Monday. Since the disaster, documents have come to light that show that officials knew about the stockpile and did nothing about it.
Thousands of window panes will be shipped from the UAE to help repair homes and shops destroyed. Yesterday, 138 tonnes of glass was loaded on to six shipment containers in Dubai, which will depart for Lebanon today.
The aid is part of the Together for Beirut campaign launched by the Lebanese Business Council in Abu Dhabi.