And im peter dhabi here in doha with the very latest on the disaster in beirut the fires are burning into the night as rescue crews search for more survivors and victims. While countries around the world offer their support to levon on which is already in the grip of its worst economic crisis in decades. A massive explosion has brought catastrophe to lebanons capital beirut killing at least 78 people and injuring thousands more as a shockwave smashed through the city its erupted from a port warehouse where about 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate had been stored for years is believed to be set off by welders the blast was felt 160 kilometers away in cyprus countries around the world including lebanons traditional folk. Israel or offering help is in a hole in beirut begins our coverage. A massive explosion in the heart of the lebanese capital. Was. 6 the blast essential quavers across beirut shattering windows destroying buildings. And injuring hundreds. The streets were filled with panic and confusion for most of the so you know my call was down there it rolled over i think my injuries all because of the loss the loss cut me up my call was like this i dont know about the sun i dont know what happened i was fishing i heard there was a fire so i began to hit home then i heard something explode and then this happened i got injured this is all i know. Rescue work began quickly and emergency vehicles converged on the side of the blast. Putting out fires. And getting the injured to safety lebanons internal security chief confirmed the blast originated in the Port District in a section housing highly explosive materials. Lebanons Prime Minister has addressed the nation promising that the victims would get justice for what happened. It will not post without accountability those responsible for this catastrophe will pay the price this is a promise to the martyrs an injured this is a National Commitment while the cause is still unknown some are already blaming the government levanon is an accident waiting to happen so many wait so many places whether its. Public Services Like just any kinds of Government Industries are not regulated well we dont like inspectors that so many buildings could collapse you know again all the problems that lebanon face because they dont really have a strong government that is able to its. The safety of its citizens and thats been why people have been protesting thats why the currency has been palling so you know there are so many possible accidents going on so its very hard to speculate i mean alan says continue to arrive at this explosion there have been dozens of casualties many victims are still trapped in the rubble and rescue work looks set to continue long into the night the destruction of central beirut appear to come out of nowhere and theres the shock of what happened subsides the demands for answers will continue to grow louder santa for their favorite. Well anyway we spoke to mondo hes a professor of communications of the American University of beirut he told us more about the warehouse where the explosion happened the material is stored it was in the have your number 12 which is one of the biggest and they store all flammable in an order material that is highly sensitive to explosions and otherwise and those who are stuck there by quote touring because theyre not allowed to enter lebanon and they were basically trying to get them into lebanon using excuses off using them for fertilizers so the reports so far are saying and it seems that something terribly when drunk there and they were not stored properly there was a lot of flammables and that region and then there was a massive fire followed by in intensity. Which basically destroyed the 2 to 30 kilometer radius of homes and houses around i was one of those who who is missing or the glass and an entire entrance to a house because of the blast basically its negligence you have got the Customs Department that responsible for it and then youve got the ministry of defense because they have that i thought to supervise anything off an explosive nature such as dynamite and others and include including the ammonium by traits that exploded this evening. As there is a forward port of beirut by the way is 80 percent of all imports into lebanon so it is the main vein its the main ought to be for this economy for food for medicine for everything right next to it is the massive the biggest storage and if you see the footage youll notice the big dominant White Building thats the strategic game reserve for lebanon which got completely destroyed and that means wheat it means 3 months off wheat and i dont deport there are a can use 2 or 3 of the biggest militants and 11 on that or so produce the flour for the bread so the damage is massive on every scale. Well homes and buildings quite some distance away from the site of the explosion have been badly damaged and so for us as a journalist living in beirut disappeared just from her house the impact of the explosion blew out windows and damaged finish inside her house she suffered minor injuries earlier she told al jazeera more about what happened. Next tricks. I dont know what they were very. Hovering over. The window hes up. And. I open the window and i was even now gone within seconds. I was on the ground i was bleeding there was a speck of blood. But i have to tell you that i suffer we do have other injuries because all the hospitals in the city get that a lot of journalists less than editors are trying to get me a doctor but theyre hearing is that the hospital is a fact and i. Know at this point in time i probably. Just sort of driven to the fence but. Really sit down to see what i could do was my own situation but it certainly was a terrifying experience even as a doctor this is something i have a conflict all the time but this happened in court how you know we just got off lucky funded but thats not what you think of when that happened. The story of how devaney the struggle to buy bread but the price of bread has doubled and my heart going out. For all the people these people already had. And talking to us just a little earlier lets bring in a scene hes a professor at the American University of beirut nasser youre seeing great to talk to you again 1st off nasser can you just explain to us what the city feels like what it looks like tonight. The city is diverse dated. Everyone is feeling. The impact of all of this. There is a sense of. Failure of the government of the state in dealey dealing with is what people want this has been coming for some months now and this is has become like the straw that at the back of the live only is this full of anger. And it will are not really able to manage your call was the extent and the the size of all of this only you thought of the only thing pardon me for interrupting you now see a scene but when you talk about anger. This happened a few hours ago so are you saying the anger is there its instantaneous and i guess not wishing to put words into your mouth i guess when its question would be is it feels by the preexisting condition that lebanon was in any way. Absolutely i mean this has been accumulating for many months and years and particularly for the last 6 months after people went to the streets asking for law just as politically government for the better economy and what weve got there is theres good things getting worse and now we just got this. Beyond imagination explosion in a major part of the city in the main port of the country with soudan of injured and millions of dollars of of destruction and then we think news that this is this happened because theyve been stored in nitrates for years without actually managing to deal with that is order or storing them in a different phase or an Area Security this is just negligence at responsibility if this of thats the case and this is again a sign of the failing of the of the state and just different but others in dealing with the needs of that have been im going to expect to morrow things will look worse people will realize the extent of this this explosion of course everybody is now trying to help everyone is going to hospital and trying to support families and friends but i think in couple of days the anger really can ease and people will ask for accountability and ask to make people you know answer to what exactly happened and why this happened ok lets talk for the next minute about the immediate aftermath of this explosion and its potential consequences is there a new your mind a distance or a difference if you will between what the government should do and what the government might actually do over the coming immediate hours and days and then when it comes to doing the right thing by lebanese people. I mean i have no love that this is going to be this explosion this incident this disaster is going to be beyond what that even his government can go words i think it Needs International support but like many issues for the last few months weve been seeing a little bit believe in his government not thinking that i decisions when it comes to managing the economy or the finances or social issues and they can imagine that this disaster this catastrophe will be dealt by the way that live in these people do relying on themselves under some wart on their communities of and it is government will just be lost in not giving in and not doing the right decision i hope to do things differently this time i hope all the states the government the Parliament Administration a leader look into this and give real answers from people and people accountable and i think this this is what we want ok i think it was around april may time this year the Prime Minister wrote a piece for i think it was the Washington Post maybe the New York Times probably the Washington Post and he was saying look world youve got to engage with us as a country because we are this close to being food insecure we dont have enough stuff to feed lebanese talking about a country where 80 percent of what you use is imported 20 percent of the population is basically occupying Refugee Status at that time there was a big pile on on the back of that article saying look hes diverting because so many of the issues in lebanon are selfinflicted anyway so hes trying to dilute the reaction because his name is in the crosshairs of accountability what ive just said to you now is that a fair interpretation of the reality of lebanon not where the Prime Minister might like to say lebanon is. I mean yes i mean the the the lebanese government and leaders and many of the shows keep keep you know pushing that can hitting the can for and more vigorous for civility to others and nominees 1st and foremost but also International Supporters have been asking for more reforms more you know action when it comes to immediate action needed and then different sectors particularly to cut the losses and the Electricity Sector and other sectors and so on before they get the support from others whether it is the i. M. F. Or the International Committee that was just before disaster and now you get this disaster and i dont im not optimistic that lebanese government would be able to deal with that and this aftermath we need we need more response of the leaders and we need the engagement of the International Community to deal with this kind of disaster and i think this is whats needed until we get to that point i think believe in his people by that also for their own ways of and ive been following him and been part of some of these initiatives at the moment and theyre theyre working you know since that explosion happened by the minute to support each other unfortunately this can take place for katie forgetting for the immediate you know needs but i dont think this would be would last when it comes to rebuilding measure parts of the city or the major part of it which you know the major for this is the major port of beirut that was almost totally destroyed and part of it also the grain silos where the. Of the grain and the wheat that actually live minis and people who live in lebanon need and thats another disaster and theyre making if we can get support in terms of grain and we and other food supplies. For the coming days and weeks we will be dealing with the immediate needs and immediate aftermath but i think after that we really need to look into in new ways and new people to govern this country rather than just keep pushing the can and pushing that responsibility into others now so you see and thank you so much for putting that into the broader context for us on such a difficult difficult evening we do appreciate your time good luck nothing seen there talking to us from beirut thank you thank you thank you both nations were among the 1st to offer help the kashmir shake to mean bin hamad all funny says his country will send medical equipment to set up field hospitals iran has also offered support as has its regional rival saudi arabia israel too is offering humanitarian aid through foreign channels because it has no diplomatic relationship with lebanon e. U. Leaders as well say they are ready to provide whatever is required the u. S. President on the trump says his country will help as well but he also seemed to contradict official reports by describing the blast as an attack let me begin by sending americas deepest sympathies to the people of lebanon where reports indicate that many many people were killed hundreds more were very badly wounded in a large explosion in beirut our prayers go out to all the victims and their families the United States stands ready to assist lebanon a very Good Relationship with the people of lebanon and we will be there to help it looks like a terrible attack. So washington my colleague mike hanna mike whats the president talking about here a bomb attack. Well its not exactly clear later on in that briefing President Trump was asked directly why he referred to this explosion as an attack and he said hed been talking with his great generals as he put it and they argued that it was not a mechanical accident certainly the explosion looked like a bomb blast president tran keeping on saying that it does look like a bomb blast according to his generals now one is just point out that shortly before that briefing took place President Trump was meeting with some of his senior military commanders it was the swearing in of the new chief of staff of the air force Charles Brown and so certainly he would have had the opportunity to speak to some of those senior generals during that event whether that was told to him at that particular time that this was an attack an attack that is not clear at this particular point we have asked the pentagon to clarify the situation and President Trumps comment however and no response as yet peter not only easy square to circle for the trumpet ministration not a nice relationship between washington and beirut because washington the state department theyve spent so many weeks and months now trying to undermine hezbollah because hezbollah is kind of soft wired to so many other big issues across the region and clearly the the latitude that the lebanese government doesnt mirror perfectly what the u. S. Government would like the lebanese government to do about one particular relationship. Well precisely that the u. S. Is deeply concerned about irans greater influence within lebanon particularly on the issue of oil deals iran offering lebanon to take payment for oil deal used in lebanese currency which is of course would be immensely favorable to lebanon now state department has expressed deep concern about that the relationship under the administration has been somewhat rocky peter for a sample in september last Year Congress passed an act giving lebanon more than 100 1000000. 00 in military aid for some reason the trumpet ministration sat on that payment despite pleas from congress are saying why the money hasnt been handed over from the pentagon who was exceedingly keen to see that money handed over the print but ministration not giving any indication why it was sitting on this money for a long period of time very similar to what happened with the ukraine although theres no suggestion that President Trump was extend team to leverage something out of the lebanese authorities there was a lot of talk about u. S. Concern of corruption within lebanon President Trump indicating that he was sitting on this money to get a clear report from state department it was eventually released in december months after theyve been passed in congress but the slipped something off a tattering in the relationship between the u. S. And levanon attempts have been made to improve that relationship the chief of staff of centcom Central Command paid a visit to lebanon in july of this year he held a meeting with senior military start and once again reiterated u. S. Support for lebanon and for the government of lebanon and indeed for the Lebanese Army which plays a crucial role in u. S. Eyes in terms of attempting to limit iranian influence within lebanon ok mike many thanks mike im a reporter there in washington d. C. Now to some breaking news out of colombia where the Supreme Court has now in the last hour confirmed it has ordered the detention of the former president. Has to do with a case in which the former leader is accused of witness tampering and fraud has repeatedly declared his innocence and questioned the courts independence he is a close ally of the current president even duke a. Possible use of course on our developing stories out of the website al jazeera dot com or you can follow us on twitter as well. Argentina has reached a deal with its creditors to restructure a large Government Debt it follows months of talks and is being hailed as a maj