How safe are our ports?

OUR hearts go out to the people of Beirut, Lebanon, which was severely damaged on Tuesday by a tremendous explosion at the city’s port. While our first concern is naturally the well-being of the citizens of Beirut — along with a large number of our own countrymen who live and work there — the shocking catastrophe gives us pause to consider the safety of the Philippines’ many port facilities.

As of midday Friday, the toll from the blast had reached 137 killed and more than 4,000 injured, with scores still missing. Tragically, four Filipinos were listed among those killed; 31 were injured, two critically, and one remains missing. The government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, has offered assurances that all possible assistance will be given to those affected by the disaster and their families.

Lebanese government officials have estimated that at least half of Beirut, which has a population of about 2.5 million, was damaged in the blast, with almost the entire port area being completely destroyed. Early estimates of the total damage are between $3 billion and $5 billion, but could be far greater for Lebanon, which was already in the midst of a serious economic crisis brought about by political turmoil and the coronavirus pandemic. As much as 80 percent of the imports that Lebanon is heavily dependent on ordinarily pass through the port of Beirut, which is now completely unusable. In addition, the country’s strategic grain reserve — good for about three months’ consumption — was destroyed in the explosion; it was stored in the large grain elevator adjacent to the blast site and clearly visible in photos and videos of the disaster. Two of the country’s three largest flour mills were also destroyed in the blast, along with at least two of Beirut’s large hospitals, thousands of residential and commercial buildings, and large parts of Beirut’s electricity and communications networks.

Although many conspiracy theories about the devastating explosion have surfaced in recent days — a sad outcome, perhaps, of a world living online in deeply troubling times

— the cause of the disaster is now fairly well understood. A fire that began in a warehouse storing fireworks spread to a neighboring warehouse in which 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used for fertilizer but which is also highly explosive, had been stored for the past six years after having been off-loaded from a ship that was seized by Lebanese customs officials. The detonation of the ammonium nitrate was the equivalent of 1.3 kilotons (1,300 tons) of TNT; the shock wave registered as a magnitude-3.5 earthquake, and was heard as far away as the island of Cyprus, 200 kilometers across the Mediterranean Sea from Beirut.

Port facilities are, for better or worse, common locations for the collection of all manner of goods. From time to time, particularly in recent years, we have heard complaints from port officials and operators about unclaimed or sequestered cargoes occupying space in our ports. Until now, there has been little reason to wonder if forgotten products could potentially cause more harm than just congestion in port facilities. Is there a potential disaster waiting to happen in one of the Philippines’ ports?

We certainly hope there is none, but the Beirut disaster reminds us of the danger of complacency. The hundreds of tons of explosive ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut had apparently simply been forgotten until disaster struck. Again, we have no reason to believe there is such a risk anywhere in the Philippines, but by the same token, neither did the authorities and people of Beirut until it was too late.

The responsible agencies here — the Philippine Ports Authority, the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine Coast Guard and port operators — should act on the grim reminder of the Beirut tragedy, and conduct appropriate inspections of port facilities and connected warehouse facilities to ensure that a similar catastrophic risk is not present anywhere in the country. If there is, immediate steps should be taken to prevent a tragedy. Unlikely though it may seem, knowing with certainty that a disaster similar to that which befell Beirut won’t happen here will be a welcome bit of peace of mind.

‘Until now, there has been little reason to wonder if forgotten products could potentially cause more harm than just congestion in port facilities. Is there a potential disaster waiting to happen in one of the Philippines’ ports?’