Country that it appears the blast was caused by a highly explosive material and clearly it was highly explosive material because the lebanese capital shook. Buildings. Kilometers away 3rd glass shattered people in the streets they were crying. There was really panic everywhere it was very difficult to move from one area of the capitol to another because everybody just wanted to get home as quickly as possible because they did not know what happened and they were worried that there would be further explosions 1 so beirut was rocked by a massive explosion just over 2 hours ago Lebanese Security saying highly explosive material in a warehouse in beirut port confiscated material in the words of the head of Lebanese Security which is going to really raise a lot of questions authorities will have to answer a lot of questions on what this material was doing at beirut ports how was it stored at the root ports and whether or not it was stored in a safe manner clearly what we saw today that it was not. Sent if the mother many thanks officers and a lot of the. Lie of what they report as they were saying lebanons president has called an urgent Defense Council meeting that meeting is underway the Prime Minister has declared a national day of mourning on what to say these are lives live pictures now from the scene of that explosion where firefighters are continuing to tackle the blaze at the began immediately after that massive explosion but hit the lebanese capital around to 2 hours 15 minutes ago now but so speak to how the battle. Who is a journalist of the founder of beirut reports he joins us now from that open suburb beirut they tell us good to have you with us what do you make of these reports that an explosive material not explosives but an explosive material had been stored in a warehouse at the port for quite some time and the speculation that. A team and its special team. Had found them to be unsafe just a matter of months ago. Well i mean its not surprising you know lebanon is an accident waiting to happen in so many ways so many places whether its the. Public Services Electricity kinds of Government Industries are not regulated well we dont have like inspectors that so many buildings could collapse you know again all the problems that lebanon faces because they dont really have a strong government that is able to ensure the safety of its citizens and thats been why people have been protesting thats why the currency has been falling so you know there are so many possible accidents that ive been on so its very hard to speculate it could be you know many things some people hurt airplanes. I thought it was an airplane the minute that i looked and the minute i felt the explosion i looked in the sky it was my 1st reaction is always our reaction as lebanese to look at this guy because weve had so many airstrikes that make similar explosions but this was very very strong is more than a bunker busting bomb we thought many of us here as well so its very hard for me to speculate but you know there are a 1000000 accidents waiting to happen and if it does turn out to be an industrial accident that these materials have been stored in an unsafe manner who is who takes responsibility for that and in lebanon given we were hearing earlier from our correspondent about about corruption being pretty endemic there lebanon anyway particularly at the ports. Yeah i mean another problem in lebanon is that there are conflicting authorities its never really clear who is in charge so theres a Port Authority theres the ministry of transport theres a Security Forces you know so so there are all these overlapping bodies in lebanon that always pass the blame onto each other you know weve had food prices weve had gas shortages weve had you know people are really hungry and starving and spencer so i mean the real Immediate Impact you know before we assign blame will be how this will devastate the economy which is already devastated when you have the entire core of a country just kind of blown to smithereens i mean thats where the wheat is thats where we get our bread all those products all those valuable goods that will definitely her fitness as an economy thats people are already broke in this country there are already put a price of food is so high maybe this will make the price go higher so you have to realize lebanon is a country that is reliance completely on imports we dont make much the very small country with no manufacturing so we really rely on that port of beirut its a lifeline and so thats what were going to worry about 1st but of course youll have all kinds of conspiracies and theories that will immediately happen people who will say its israel because they its husband who will say people read whatever they want the problem is is that we dont have information in levanon and its very the governments not very transparent so you can read whatever it there you want thats point but yeah i think its all possible i dont think we should jump to conclusions right away although many will many will use the political vehicle even though weve seen fireworks explosions in other countries that have been massively devastating and killed many people it seems that accidents cant happen in lebanon yet they happen all the time the countrys going to need help isnt it now. Most definitely the country needs help yesterday the country needed help 5 months ago you know we have a crippling banking crisis people cant get money from their banks for like 8 months now we have a debt crisis all of the countrys revenue goes to paying debt and not actually providing services we have a currency crisis which means the currency divide by 80 percent that means salaries have been slashed by 80 percent jobs have been a slash and huge numbers you know we have to like the percent unemployment depending on how you count the figures in lebanon so the cope with crisis you know hospitals are already full and loving on and we dont know how many more i. C. U. Rooms are left for people with coke but now with this you know people have been injured miles away when i felt the explosion i was like 5 miles away and my whole body moved. All of my friends their houses have been the windows have been destroyed and you know glass is an import right so how people sleep tonight with no glass and their houses you know were talking about a huge number of Economic Losses that you know were all going to start calculating as as as the hours go by but it will definitely affect everything that is already so devastating in lebanon right now. Really good to talk to so many thanks indeed for being with us but lets go back to observers anahata who is at the at the scene of the explosion at the polls in beirut the Lebanese Red Cross the head of the Lebanese Red Cross says that hundreds of people have been injured and are being treated but that many people are still trapped in the area of the blast. Zain it could be heavy its adrian. And i can hear you im sorry as you can imagine its very chaotic here. Yes we are outside beirut airport and you can see the Lebanese Army is heavy security presence here they are now leaving beirut port behind them is the entrance another fire another fire truck leaving. Weve been here for almost 3 hours now watching ambulances arrive ambulances leave fire trucks arrive fire trucks leave the casualty toll Lebanese Security sources say at least 10 killed were expecting that number to rise Health Minister says dozens hundreds have also heard this was a massive massive explosion and according to the head of the lebanese general security it appears to be caused by highly explosive material that was stored in a warehouse out of beirut port he made that statement a short while ago after he inspected the site here arrived at beirut ports left a short while ago so now according to general Major General about him the blast was caused by highly explosive material out bad reports you can see ambulances continue to leave. Rosa 8. Its been a 8 chaotic few hours in the lebanese capital. Since beirut. By this massive massive blast the force of the blast the magnitude the scale of the explosion ive covered many many. Bombings assassination attempts nothing like this nothing that shook the capital well some will say maybe the massive bomb that killed the former Prime Minister a fickle how did in 2005 it was you you can compare it to that explosion that 2 shook the lebanese capital so people are on edge asking questions at 1st they thought it was some sort of an attack now theyre saying it was an accident so many lebanese are going to ask theres going to be more questions now on what this explosive material was doing at beirut for it we know that the International Community has accused the Lebanese Authority of not of not clamping down on corruption at beirut ports in fact they have a demand the corruption that the authorities fight corruption that they report as one of the conditions before billions of dollars of much needed Financial Assistance is dispersed to lebanon so now that we have a statement from a lebanese official on what happened or what caused the blast now there are going to be more questions asked the higher Defense Council this is. This groups the head of the army as well as the different security agencies they are in session. At the president ial palace in bob though the president called for the meeting we will expect a statement afterwards. Right now people are making sure that their loved ones were not injured and the talk is heres me and the explosion. And the massive blast that happened just a few minutes after 6 pm local time in beirut. And say what impact will this have on lebanon the country were hearing a few moments ago about the ports. Being the main source of all the countrys food imports that the materials that that needs to feed. The countrys population of course that the country already. Economically troubled people i think suffered months all the. Inflation of a currency which is which is no longer worth it but the paper that its printed on. Yes adrian a deep economic crisis that has really destroyed peoples livelihoods businesses have been closing down people have been losing their jobs unemployment 32 percent of the workforce now unemployed many who are. 6 im going to just let her. Absorb it all happen and. Ambulances continue to evacuated casualties almost whats 3 hours now adrian since weve weve been on air and ambulances still evacuating. The injured. About this yes were you in sun. You were in. Side when it happens you work at the ports you work here for you ok some people i managed to speak to a few people who were inside the port when the explosion happened they were clearly in a state of shock they could barely speak to me all they would say was it was a massive explosion and that they saw dead bodies injured people lying on the on the ground. This is. Is just more in the you know instability in a country close to bankruptcy just yesterday the foreign minister resigned accusing the government of not having the will to implement much needed reforms among those reforms is fighting corruption in the different state institutions. He resigned he was replaced just a few hours later. And this really raised a lot of questions among lebanese instead of the authorities and sort of trying to listen to the grievances of the people they found a replacement so this is definitely a lot more and more lebanese are going to ask about the ability of those in power to keep them safe this may not be on an on a on a its an attack. It was an accident according to the head of general security it appears that explosive material. The blast was caused by explosive material but. Where was the safety procedures they were not put in place so there will be more yet more criticism. Directed against those in power who have really been blamed for years of mismanagement and running the economy into the ground. Yes. I was there is a lot of more questions so as you can keep us safe. Houses there is a lot of reporting live from the port in beirut where she said pretty chaotic scenes that rescue workers are still searching for people. Killed or injured trapped under that rubble after that huge blast and the multiple fires that but it started there. At the poorest. We hearing from lebanons general security chief about zebra him that. This explosion happened at a warehouse where explosive materials not explosives but explosive materials had been stored in a warehouse. Theres obviously the main seat of the fire that the firefighters are trying to tackle there but in some of the other shots that with that were seeing from the port area there are numerous fires burning at the port the area and Emergency Services reporting that there are people trapped not only there at the scene of the explosion but in their own homes. The blast wave damaged buildings several kilometers away. A lot of windows were shattered glass injuries but but really. Buildings were completely damaged mangled by this this huge blast wave that came off the explosion as people were injured and as i said some reported the still being trapped inside you can see just how powerful that explosion wars. By looking at this video from the scene and initial fire or explosion and fire was followed by a much greater blast or series of blasts even. What appears to be to the untrained eye sort of fireworks going off in that that area there are reports also that there were fireworks explore stored in that area but there you go thats the main the main blast and you can see the extent of that blast wave. A massive explosion hit downtown beirut earlier today and people that have been injured in that explosion have been describing the moment that it happened. Before. My car was down it rolled over i think my injuries are because of the gloss the glass cut me up my call was like this. I dont know what happened i was fishing i heard there was a fire so i began to hit her and then i heard something explode and then this happened i got injured this is on. Lets talk now to massai who is an expert in Islamist Groups and Political Science professor at the American University of beirut she joins us now on the line from there could have you with us professor where were you when this explosion hit yesterday. I thought. I mean. d Something Like this. Once you realized that it was an explosion that caused it what we are what we are National Force then. Something big. Check. Sure response i think. For most people. Was. Destroyed. The Prime Minister has declared a national day of mourning. Wednesday. What do you think will be the impact on the country of this explosion. Already is going through maybe the toughest time in its history the state is about to collapse the economy is already. Bad. People all. Of the people are out there just. Increasing the. Ringback funding or the Exchange Rate dollar. Lebanese is going to help but wonder. What today is going to lead to Massive School people go and i think the government this day just to remind you that you. Are one is. The most gracious. Because because of the fires that took place among. The government could not. Help course along with all the causes that had been going home for a long corruption and mismanagement. The people who. Have that issue i think we should. Step now is show people are shocked i think people dont think really what i think the next is going to be. A Massive Action against the government. For the country and the improvement and the support and so on so well go through the. Not very optimistic action. Professor its been good to talk to you many thanks to you for being with us. Live from beirut lets speak once again to. Who spoke to around 20 minutes ago. Is a journalist the founder of beirut report you heard what the professor was saying there about people people perhaps. Taking to the streets again against the government in anger after this i mean is that a point of view youd agree with. Yeah i mean i think its at some point you know whatever happened theres a great failure here to protect people and citizens and thats been the main protest call is that people want to government that cares for them. They want a government that performs the basic Public Services you know we dont have electricity weve been in the dark for half of half a day in lebanon for the last few months because the government cant manage to provide electricity we have your short as i was as i before i before the explosions i was filling up gas at a gas station they wouldnt give me enough gas that fill my car so so we were constantly in a state of crisis. And thats where the reality of life in lebanon its a very difficult life to live in love to wake up in the morning with multiple headlines and problems just 2 days ago we had a threat of a war with israel. So you really you know you cant escape its a constant life of stress and trauma and i think that this loss of an emotional impact will be plenty cool that we killed injured fragments of glass you know millions and probably billions of dollars in damages but then theres the Emotional Trauma you know im still feeling rattled i wasnt even you know at the site of the explosion but i felt that so strong and im still feeling emotionally rattled and i think thats a minor im a minor case of it you know because its like a its kind of like a p. T. S. D. When you when youre always being bombed when you live with so many bombings and so many wars and have like 10 wars in the last 2030 years so you know these kind of things they spark that trauma in your and your mind you know that your heart starts beating and when i heard i jumped in my car and i raced and the cars were almost crashing into each other on the street but you know lebanon is an unregulated life a life without a strong state you know anyone who thinks about making government smaller and doing with regulations should. Come here because this country is a constant as ours or as the professor said that forest fires were one of the factors that got people angry because the government couldnt control the forest fires and now weve actually sold the helicopters in lebanon that it was to fight forest fires so the helicopters are probably not even able to fight this massive blaze at the port of very well because many of them have been been sold off or auctioned off the state is literally selling itself off. And as people thats how that. As people. Emerge from out of that initial Emotional Trauma. The next thing theyre going to feel you think is anger. How will they channel that anger where where is this what im trying to say is this a dangerous moment for lebanon or is it do you think the catalyst that could provoke the change that the country so desperately needs. Well i dont know its difficult to say i mean these kind of things get very messy and its hard to you know create a you know. Like the end of the tunnel and say things are going to be well because of this i mean i think that people blame each other so thats one of the problems why i think the protests havent really succeeded in the country because the country is very very deeply divided so people will create their own bad guy out of the story so we will blame the government and will blame israel and we will say it was a drone people have said that they heard planes and there will be all kinds of theories so i dont know if anger in the streets has been helping the country its definitely a natural outpouring and its very expected that they would be very angry at so for so many reasons but that that has that led to a positive change it hasnt been an organized anger its been a just an organized anger so. In large part lets say there are definite organizations out there so i dont know who really benefit the country because the Economic Loss will be so devastating so i dont know if it will even have the money and the time to be you know going out and expressing their opinions they can barely survive so it could be there could be a protest again but i think people are just so exhausted in this country emotionally and mentally exhausted i dont even know if they have the energy to keep fighting and fighting and fighting constantly so i think it will try to huddle down protect their own you know who knows you know i said that a giant silo was was there in the for it so that could make the price of bread go up we could see a price increase and weve already seen a quadrupling of prices in some cases and some market items so there is desperation and anger or there could be you know he could be right there could be more protests that definitely will be the protests well will you concern manage but the problem is the country is its so deeply deeply deeply. Politically divided from its actual founding that its hard to just have a Critical Mass of people thinking one thing in lebanon and thats one of the biggest problems of lebanon that there is really kind of team work or team spirit to actually save this country everybodys going in Different Directions and again this country doesnt make a lot of sense as a country to begin with Everybody Knows that putting people together have a very different world views you know half of the country looks toward iran and china and half the country looks toward france the United States and saudi arabia and you know these International Powers have played up that they will play this to their advantage always they will support opposing sides lebanon is the worlds chess board and this is where the cold war has happened so you know it decisions are not always made in lebanon that the term of the fate many are but there you know its its its very hard to untangle the division in this country and i dont know if another violent event will do that because weve had so many violent events in this country weve had so many wars and bombings. And that hasnt really set the country on a better path so i think right now its just going to be about you know counting the losses and i think we