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Aftermath of an explosion in Beirut. \u00a9Sputnik \/ Mikhail Alaeddin<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
RT.com<\/p>\n
Up to 300,000 people in Beirut have been left without a home after the deadly explosion that ripped through a large part of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, the governor of the city said.<\/p>\n
The powerful eruption devastated entire neighborhoods and affected roughly half of the city, Governor Marwan Abboud told local and international media.<\/p>\n
With numerous buildings damaged by the blast wave, between 200,000 and 300,000 people in Beirut have been left without a home and will need food, water and shelter. Preliminary estimates place the damage anywhere between $3 billion and $5 billion and\u00a0\u201cmaybe more,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Abboud added.<\/p>\n The devastation is a further blow to Lebanon\u2019s already struggling financial situation, as the country is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades.<\/p>\n Beirut port, where the blast originated, is an important piece of infrastructure, serving as a gateway for traffic from Mediterranean Sea to Lebanon as well as Syria, Jordan and Iraq.<\/p>\n Lebanese officials linked the blast to 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored at a warehouse in Beirut since 2013, when it was confiscated from an unsafe ship that was reportedly delivering the cargo to Mozambique.<\/p>\n The chemical compound is widely used as fertilizer as is also a component used in the production of explosives.<\/p>\n At least 100 people have been killed in the disaster, with the death toll expected to rise further.<\/p>\n