Explosions leave 300,000 people without homes
The port blasts in Beirut left 300,000 people homeless and caused damage across half of the city estimated to cost more than $3 billion (Dh11.02bn).
The city’s governor, Marwan Abboud, said engineers and technical teams were yet to conduct an official assessment of the damage caused by the explosions.
The costs could reach as much as $5bn, he said.
The second blast was the most powerful to rip through Beirut, a city still scarred by a civil war that ended three decades ago.
Lebanese people are also reeling from an economic crisis in the country and a surge in coronavirus infections.
The explosion sent a mushroom cloud into the sky and rattled windows on the island of Cyprus, about 160 kilometres away.
The cause of the explosions was about 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which is used in fertiliser and bombs.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the substance was stored for six years at the port without safety measures.
The situation was unacceptable, he said.
The head of Lebanon’s Red Cross, George Kettani, said rescue teams were still looking for bodies. At least 135 are known to have died.
“There could still be victims. I hope not,” he said.
The force of the second blast knocked people into the sea and search teams are looking for bodies in the water.
Many of those killed were port and customs workers or people working in the area. Motorists on the road during the Tuesday afternoon rush hour are also among the dead.
The Red Cross co-ordinated with Lebanon’s Health Ministry to set up morgues because hospitals were overwhelmed, Mr Kettani said.
Facades of buildings in central Beirut were ripped off, furniture was sucked into streets and roads were strewn with glass and debris. Cars near the port were flipped over.
Offers of international support poured in. Gulf states, who in the past were major financial supporters of Lebanon, were among the countries that sent planes loaded with medical equipment and other supplies.
The US, Britain, France and other western nations, which have been demanding political change in Lebanon, also offered help. The Netherlands said it was sending doctors, nurses and rescue teams.