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In Pics | Anger simmers as Lebanon marks one year of deadly port explosion

One of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history killed at least 214 people in Beirut on August 4, 2020, levelled entire neighbourhoods and deepened the economic abyss but no one has been held accountable for the destruction

AFP | August 04, 2021 / 13:32 IST
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Lebanon marks a year since a cataclysmic explosion ravaged Beirut on August 4, 2020, with a mix of grief over lost lives and rage at the impunity for its worst peacetime disaster at a time when its economy was already in tatters. (Image: AFP)
Lebanon marks a year since a cataclysmic explosion ravaged Beirut on August 4, 2020, with a mix of grief over lost lives and rage at the impunity for its worst peacetime disaster at a time when its economy was already in tatters. (Image: AFP)
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Shortly after 6:00 pm on August 4, 2020, a stock of ammonium nitrate fertiliser haphazardly stored at the city's port exploded and left swathes of the Lebanese capital looking like a war zone. (Image: AFP)
Shortly after 6 pm on August 4, 2020, a stock of ammonium nitrate fertiliser haphazardly stored at the city's port exploded and left swathes of the Lebanese capital looking like a war zone. (Image: AFP)
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In this file combination of pictures created on August 05, 2020 UGC footage filmed from an office building shows a fireball exploding while smoke is billowing during a chemical explosion at the port of the Lebanese capital Beirut the previous day. One year later, no politicians held to account and the country facing soaring poverty, a plummeting currency, angry protests and shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel, many blast survivors are simmering in the lead up to the tragedy's first anniversary. (Image: AFP)
In this file combination of pictures created on August 5, 2020, UGC footage filmed from an office building shows a fireball exploding while smoke is billowing during a chemical explosion at the port of the Lebanese capital Beirut the previous day. One year later, no politicians held to account and the country facing soaring poverty, a plummeting currency, angry protests and shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel, many blast survivors are simmering in the lead up to the tragedy's first anniversary. (Image: AFP)
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What went down as one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history killed at least 214 people, levelled entire neighbourhoods and irreparably scarred the nation's psyche as well deepening the country's economic abyss. (Image: AFP)
What went down as one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history killed at least 214 people, levelled entire neighbourhoods and irreparably scarred the nation's psyche as well deepening the country's economic abyss. (Image: AFP)
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With more than half the country living under the poverty line, former colonial power France aims to raise humanitarian aid at another international conference co-hosted by the UN on the day of the anniversary. President Emmanuel Macron hopes to gather $350 million. (Image: AFP)
With more than half the country living under the poverty line, former colonial power France aims to raise humanitarian aid at another international conference co-hosted by the UN on the day of the anniversary. President Emmanuel Macron hopes to gather $350 million. (Image: AFP)
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Families of the dead and survivors have planned vigils, prayers, ceremonies and marches to honour those who perished in a blast whose shockwave was felt as far away as Cyprus. (Image: AFP)
Families of the dead and survivors have planned vigils, prayers, ceremonies and marches to honour those who perished in a blast whose shockwave was felt as far away as Cyprus. (Image: AFP)
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Port workers were buried under gutted grain silos, firefighters battling the fire that preceded the blast were pulverised, commuters crushed to death and residents lacerated by supersonic shards of glass bled out in their homes. (Image: AFP)
Port workers were buried under gutted grain silos, firefighters battling the fire that preceded the blast were pulverised, commuters crushed to death and residents lacerated by supersonic shards of glass bled out in their homes. (Image: AFP)
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Many will stay home on what was declared a national day of mourning, but last year's shock soon gave way to an anger that has only grown with every day the crime stays unpunished. (Image: AFP)
Many will stay home on what was declared a national day of mourning but last year's shock soon gave way to an anger that has only grown with every day the crime stays unpunished. (Image: AFP)
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According to foreign and Lebanese intelligence reports seen by AFP, hundreds of tonnes of fertiliser were carelessly stored in the same warehouse as tonnes of fireworks and rolls of detonating cord, among other dangerous materials. (Image: AFP)
According to foreign and Lebanese intelligence reports seen by AFP, hundreds of tonnes of fertiliser were carelessly stored in the same warehouse as tonnes of fireworks and rolls of detonating cord, among other dangerous materials. (Image: AFP)
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The reports, all dating back to last year, suggest that welding work caused the original fire. However, more thorough investigations have yet to ascertain that fact and answer how the shipment got there in the first place, or why the deadly assortment of hazardous materials was left to fester in the same location for years. (Image: AFP)
The reports, all dating back to last year, suggest that welding work caused the original fire. However, more thorough investigations have yet to ascertain that fact and answer how the shipment got there in the first place, or why the deadly assortment of hazardous materials was left to fester in the same location for years. (Image: AFP)

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