THUNDER BAY –Walid Chahal was shocked, along with the rest of the world, upon seeing sections of Beirut flattened on Tuesday by a massive explosion.
“It’s too much to take,” said Chahal, a continuing lecturer in the sociology department at Lakehead University, who was born in Lebanon before moving to the United Kingdom and eventually to Canada.
The blast, blamed on 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate – the same explosive material used to destroy the federal government building in Oklahoma City 25 years ago – stored in a warehouse in the Lebanese capital.
The devastation is staggering.
The death toll, as of Wednesday afternoon, stood at 135, with 5,000 wounded and up to 300,000 left homeless after the explosion tore through the normally congested and damaged up to half the city, according to the city’s governor.
Chahal, who still has siblings in Lebanon, albeit farther north in the Tripoli area, said in the aftermath of the devastating tragedy, he was on the phone calling anyone and everyone he knew in the country to ensure they were OK.
“The way they put it, they said, ‘This is Hiroshima in Lebanon.’
It’s just one more obstacle for the country’s people to have to overcome.
Lebanon endured 15 years of civil war from 1975 to 1990, while also in conflict with Israel, which continues off and on to this day.
If that wasn’t enough, Chahal said the country is battling a collapsed economy that has led many to suicide, a government widely regarded as corrupt and then COVID-19.
“There are a multitude of problems happening in Lebanon and then you have this on top of what has been happening,” he said.
Chahal said he is glad to see the rest of the world, including Israel and the United Nations, starting to step up in the wake of the explosion, though he wonders why it took so long, given the state of affairs in the Middle Eastern nation.
He recommended anyone who wants to donate do so through either Human Concern International, a Gloucester, Ont.-based charity, or the International Red Cross.
