Eva Richa's friend was at a mall in Beirut on August 4 when a massive explosion rocked the building. Walls fell, windows shattered, and people were killed instantly. When Richa's friend opened her eyes and saw bodies around her, she couldn't believe she and her friends survived.
In another part of town, a friend of Christina Elhaddad's left work early, shortly before the explosion. When he arrived home, he found out what had happened; later, he would discover the blast destroyed his office and killed all of his coworkers.
And Mayssa Alothman's sister, who lives about 20 minutes away from the blast, described the explosion as an earthquake. It shook her house, and an intense wind gust from the explosion reached her home and practically knocked her closet onto her. Her ears were in pain for the rest of the day.
These are just three of the thousands of stories coming out of Lebanon, after approximately 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate held at a port warehouse exploded, killing more than 160 people, injuring thousands more and leaving over 300,000 homeless... more
