Administrators Clunkmeister Posted August 5, 2020 Administrators Share Posted August 5, 2020 As many of you may know, my good friend and Brother in Christ Karim Bibi is from Beirut. His extended and immediate family still call Beirut home. His beautiful young daughter also was there today, and after talking to him for an hour or so today, he can say that physically at least, they are unhurt. Emotional scars are another matter and his daughter is of immediate concern. He was working today so he was away, so he’s more than a bit worried. I don’t know if all are aware of the force of today’s blast. It effectively has caused the Beirut waterfront to cease to exist. The warehouse district and much of the business district have been leveled flat, with a degree of thorough destruction not seen since Hiroshima. Parallels are being drawn between today, Hiroshima, and the Halifax Harbor blast of 1917. Many Beiruters are calling themselves and their city accursed. Just remember guys, it isn’t the city’s historic families that have brought the troubles, it’s foreign actors, meeting in the middle, where once stood a jewel of a city. Pray for them if so inclined. If you don’t pray, send out positive waves or whatever. My heart is truly broken over the mind of a little girl I feel I should know personally and whom, along with her family, I just want to give safe harbor to, and assure them that nobody or nothing can hurt them in the future. This may be a simple industrial accident. Right now, nobody knows, but several thousand pounds of stored bulk aluminum nitrate went up along with almost as much commercial grade fireworks. I just know that right now, there is no place for pointing fingers, no place for politics. Just love these poor people and keep them close in your thoughts. Yes, my heart is broken right now. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Cathy and I will do our best for you buddy........................ and it was a HELL of an explosion....I saw it 4 or 5 times, and still can't get over the force and destruction.... a long way from home but so close to home.... hang in there pal..... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggtim Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Holy smoke, Ern!! Please let Karim know I'm thinking of him and glad his family is ok. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 I certainly wish everyone here all the best, and it’s good to know that Karim’s family has not been hurt, at least physically. I have seen the videos, and the blast is just unbelievable. It is said that some 2 750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, stored there for the last 6 years, blew off. In September 2001, the Toulouse explosion involved 300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, and the damage and death toll was hard to recover from. Lebanon sure did not need more chaos Hubert 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 I messaged Karim yesterday but as yet have not heard from him. So this update is good news Ernie. I consider him a very close friend. Please let us know if you hear more.....harv 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 A nasty business to be sure. Glad to hear Karim and family are OK. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Glad to hear Karim and his loved ones are safe. The video footage of the blast is astonishing with the pressure wave so visible. As Ernie says a beautiful city in a lovely country that just doesn't deserve the fate it's suffered in recent years. My parents went to winery in the Bekaa valley many, many years ago and raved about the place and the people. Thanks for the update Ernie. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Thanks for the update Ernie. Glad to hear that Karim and his family are safe. The devastation there is unreal. Carl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted August 5, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted August 5, 2020 Yes, they’re safe which is good. But it sounds like thousands of others aren’t. And the kids... it’s just devastating. It’s looking less and less like a deliberate act, but who in their right mind would leave 3000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer sitting on a dock for six years is beyond any measure of human comprehension. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainMackayDall Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Sone shocking details from this NY Times online article https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/video/beirut-explosion-footage.html 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 I just read that article and was truly shocked, but this wasn’t the first time, it’s happened in China and a few years ago in TX. The question to ask is why did they store the stuff in a densely populated area. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainMackayDall Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 This explosion has raised fears from a the nearby town of Newcastle, where Orica has a stockpile of ammonium nitrate that is four times the size of the one that exploded in Beirut https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/mining/how-chemical-stockpile-could-wipe-out-newcastle/news-story/fc4d3a747bb7a64dfa799dde961d4c97 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 15 hours ago, IainMackayDall said: This explosion has raised fears from a the nearby town of Newcastle, where Orica has a stockpile of ammonium nitrate that is four times the size of the one that exploded in Beirut https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/mining/how-chemical-stockpile-could-wipe-out-newcastle/news-story/fc4d3a747bb7a64dfa799dde961d4c97 Whilst it is unavoidable if you want to sustain intensive agriculture, this stuff is dangerous if wrongly manipulated, or stored in unsafe conditions, like with possible contaminations of oil, fuel, etc. Which is why most countries have very strict safety rules Imposed on companies stocking them. And the bigger the stock, the tighter the rules. And, btw, It will not burn or explode with an « ordinary » flame. It needs a very high temperature trigger to explode. In Beirut, it seems it was a stock seized 6 years ago, stored there waiting for further notice. But, alas, the dereliction of the country and its structures has made it impossible to dispose off this hazard properly. And there is wide speculation that the primary explosion was one of fireworks, or a cache of explosives Hubert 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 7 hours ago, HubertB said: Whilst it is unavoidable if you want to sustain intensive agriculture, this stuff is dangerous if wrongly manipulated, or stored in unsafe conditions, like with possible contaminations of oil, fuel, etc. Which is why most countries have very strict safety rules Imposed on companies stocking them. And the bigger the stock, the tighter the rules. And, btw, It will not burn or explode with an « ordinary » flame. It needs a very high temperature trigger to explode. In Beirut, it seems it was a stock seized 6 years ago, stored there waiting for further notice. But, alas, the dereliction of the country and its structures has made it impossible to dispose off this hazard properly. And there is wide speculation that the primary explosion was one of fireworks, or a cache of explosives Hubert Somebody will pay for this blunder with their head. A few thousand tons of this stuff stored for six year in an important port warehouse, next to the country’s Primary grain cache, in a highly populated area was simply idiotic. They had six years to move or dispose of it. If anything, it could have been used for food production or sold. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 I heard from Karim. He and family are good. Houses of family did sustain some damage but better off than many......harv 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Great to hear that Harv. Wish them all the best. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 Great news 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 That's great news about Karim and his family. Thanks for sharing Harv. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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