Large Explosion in Beirut

prinzeugen

Scuid Mhór wrote: »

The calculations I've seen going round are estimating it to being 1/15th the blast of Hiroshima. Also, you have to remedy that a lot of the devastation from Hiroshima is based on the fact that it was a nuclear blast and radiation did serious damage as well. Ammonium nitrate of a comparable amount wouldn't deliver such carnage. So the contrasts are sort of unfounded.

Radiation is a by-product of a nuclear explosion. The comparisons are being based on the equivalent TNT blast scale only.

Nobody is claiming it is the same as a nuclear blast, but they are using it as a scale to explain just how powerful this was purely from the explosive (shockwave) damage part of it.

Anyway this shows that a 3kt nuke would.. do the same damage.

Screenshot 2020-08-05 at 02.28.56.png

Overheal

ACitizenErased wrote: »

I'd say the death toll is in the 1000s

The casualties are the deaths are not.

You have to remember a lot of the energy dispersed to atmosphere. Rigid structures near the blast couldn't stand up to that much sudden deflection so you see a lot of shattered glass and building facades, even some overturned cars.

/am a mechanical enginer

Wesser wrote: »

Big cloud like a mushroom coming out. ? Atomic?

Popular misconception that the mushroom cloud is inherently an atomic phenomenon. Largely, it's the sheer heat of the blast, and that heat wants to rise upward fast and cold air from the surroundings rushes in below - in 3D it gives you the mushroom geometry.





Another view of the blast today:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/i3pu1w/a_closer_look_on_the_beirut_blast_incident/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Church sermon, interrupted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/i3sph7/shockwave_from_explosion_in_lebanon_rocks_church/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Woman's maternal instinct kicks in immediately upon shockwave:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/i3qksx/brave_hero_saving_a_little_girl_during_the_beirut/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Beirut Mayor is devastated, crying

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/i3suee/mayor_of_the_lebanese_capital_of_beirut_in_tears/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Hospital scenes are traumatic but the hysteria is subsided and the solidarity is high

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/i3sg92/scenes_from_hospital_inside_beirut/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Overheal

'Why weren't more people killed' - comparing it to Hiroshima, Little Boy killed 90k-140k but it didn't do so immediately, about 6k people were within 2km of the hypocenter of the blast, and most of them actually died later from acute radiation sickness. There's no accurate count of how many died immediately. Midori Naka was ~650m from the hypocenter, (The Hypocenter/detonation altitude was 600m +/- 15m) she died 18 days later. And Hiroshima before the bomb was a lot of wooden single/double storey dwelling, not modern construction.

Washington Post reports at this hour at least 63 dead and 3,000 injured in Beirut.

2u2me

cnocbui wrote: »

This is very similar to the 1,600 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate blast disaster at Texas City, Galveston Texas in 1947, where fertiliser on a ship exploded and the blast was heard 150 miles away, several thousand were injured and 568 people were killed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster.

So this was 68% more fertiliser than was involved in that disaster.

In that wiki page it says that:

"Eventually, the steam pressure inside the ship blew the hatches open, and yellow-orange smoke billowed out. This color is typical for nitrogen dioxide fumes. The unusual color of the smoke attracted more spectators. "

It seems a bit weird as there is white greyish smoke in the videos of Beirut. It does explode with what looks like a reddish, orange colour though.

Anyone an expert in this can clarify? Doesn't this more indicate the presence of Iron or possibly sulphur(Neither of which are used in military devices).

Look 20-22seconds on this video.

Hamsterchops

Wesser wrote: »

Big cloud like a mushroom coming out. ? Atomic?

Some bang alright, I agree it looked like a mini atomic weapon (to the untrained eye), sonic boom and all, but apparently it's more likely to have been caused by old ammonium nitrate which was being stored down the docks beside a large consignment of fireworks.

...which caught fire, resulting in BOOM

Pedro K

Wesser wrote: »

Big cloud like a mushroom coming out. ? Atomic?

Almost certainly not. No blinding light. No double flash. Just a huge amount of conventional explosives.

inforfun

https://twitter.com/hanskiesewetter/status/1290743138135547908?s=12

Blast was picked up, with 2,5 hours delay, in The Netherlands (bottom of the picture)

Alun

prinzeugen wrote: »

Anyone that close would not survive. Unless that was a livestream, I doubt its genuine. I recall a similar video from a fireworks factory in Belgium or the Netherlands from about 15 years ago.

It was 20 years ago in Enschede in the east of the Netherlands near the German border. I had actually been there just a short time before the explosion and was driving home when it happened and heard the explosion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_etfXcbguZw

https://www.tubantia.nl/enschede/nooit-eerder-vertoonde-foto-s-tonen-slagveld-na-vuurwerkramp-enschede~aea196cd/?referrer=https://www.google.ie/

cnocbui

The aftermath photos in the DM are just jaw dropping. It's as if Beirut suddenly suffered a large chunk of the destruction caused during the civil war in 2 seconds.



The water filled crater is where the warehouses storing the Ammonium Nitrate once stood. The grain silo was just ripped open. I'm more than surprised any of it is still vertical. the current death toll is said to be a 100, but I am sure another zero will be appended at the least as the days go bye.

'Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat them.' Don't store or handle NH4NO3 anywhere near large populations, boys and girls.

You have to feel great sorrow for Lebanon, their suffering seems endless. If there was any justice in the world, this would have happened in Tehran.


Mod

Banned

Timberrrrrrrr

cnocbui wrote: »

The aftermath photos in the DM are just jaw dropping. It's as if Beirut suddenly suffered a large chunk of the destruction caused during the civil war in 2 seconds.



The water filled crater is where the warehouses storing the Ammonium Nitrate once stood. The grain silo was just ripped open. I'm more than surprised any of it is still vertical. the current death toll is said to be a 100, but I am sure another zero will be appended at the least as the days go bye.

'Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat them.' Don't store or handle NH4NO3 anywhere near large populations, boys and girls.

You have to feel great sorrow for Lebanon, their suffering seems endless. If there was any justice in the world, this would have happened in Tehran.

Jaysus, you don't feel sorry for the dead, you just wish it was innocent people from a different country that had died.

Sickening comment to make, you should be ashamed of yourself.

John Hutton

cnocbui wrote: »

The aftermath photos in the DM are just jaw dropping. It's as if Beirut suddenly suffered a large chunk of the destruction caused during the civil war in 2 seconds.



The water filled crater is where the warehouses storing the Ammonium Nitrate once stood. The grain silo was just ripped open. I'm more than surprised any of it is still vertical. the current death toll is said to be a 100, but I am sure another zero will be appended at the least as the days go bye.

'Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat them.' Don't store or handle NH4NO3 anywhere near large populations, boys and girls.

You have to feel great sorrow for Lebanon, their suffering seems endless. If there was any justice in the world, this would have happened in Tehran.

You're a sick person.

dzsfah2xoynme9

cnocbui wrote: »

If there was any justice in the world, this would have happened in Tehran.

Wow. Just wow... Are the people of Tehran somehow lesser people in your opinion? Horrible comment..

The last thing on anyone’s mind yesterday would have been Covid and social distancing. That’s understandable. I fear that in a few weeks time there will be a surge in cases.

Signore Fancy Pants

cnocbui wrote: »

If there was any justice in the world, this would have happened in Tehran.

Holy fcuk thats a disgusting comment.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

The Unbearables

cnocbui wrote: »

The aftermath photos in the DM are just jaw dropping. It's as if Beirut suddenly suffered a large chunk of the destruction caused during the civil war in 2 seconds.



The water filled crater is where the warehouses storing the Ammonium Nitrate once stood. The grain silo was just ripped open. I'm more than surprised any of it is still vertical. the current death toll is said to be a 100, but I am sure another zero will be appended at the least as the days go bye.

'Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat them.' Don't store or handle NH4NO3 anywhere near large populations, boys and girls.

You have to feel great sorrow for Lebanon, their suffering seems endless. If there was any justice in the world, this would have happened in Tehran.

Billy big bollox over here folks.

BPKS

The next time somebody says red tape or health and safety gone mad just refer them to this.

Whatever about the welder who apparently started the fire, officials in the city should be locked up for good for the criminal storage arrangements in the port.

shaveAbullock

BPKS wrote: »

officials in the city should be locked up for good for the criminal storage arrangements in the port.

What are the regulation on this in the Lebanon? Were many of them broken and overlooked?

BPKS

shaveAbullock wrote: »

What are the regulation on this in the Lebanon? Were many of them broken and overlooked?

I honestly don't know.

But there are international standards in relation to storage of dangerous goods that one would expect a port authority would and should be adhering to.

hmmm

Is there anywhere safe to donate to reconstruction? I had a look at the Lebanese Red Cross page and they seem to want accounts/monthly donations. Lots of dodgy gofundme pages.

Handily one of the worst things I've ever read on this site.

Sephiroth_dude

Mod

cnocbui Do not post in this thread again, digesting comment to make.

MarcusP12

cnocbui wrote: »

The aftermath photos in the DM are just jaw dropping. It's as if Beirut suddenly suffered a large chunk of the destruction caused during the civil war in 2 seconds.



The water filled crater is where the warehouses storing the Ammonium Nitrate once stood. The grain silo was just ripped open. I'm more than surprised any of it is still vertical. the current death toll is said to be a 100, but I am sure another zero will be appended at the least as the days go bye.

'Those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat them.' Don't store or handle NH4NO3 anywhere near large populations, boys and girls.

You have to feel great sorrow for Lebanon, their suffering seems endless. If there was any justice in the world, this would have happened in Tehran.

You should have have ended that last paragraph after the first sentence! Why would you think there is anywhere is the world where this would have been better off happening? Shouldn't happen anywhere! Do you think the ordinary people who would have been killed by a similar event in Tehran would be more deserving of their fate just because they happen to live in a regime you don't agree with? Really alarming take.....

splinter65

Isaias Fierce Voyager wrote: »

Wow. Just wow... Are the people of Tehran somehow lesser people in your opinion? Horrible comment..

It’s hard to get your head around how some people’s minds work. Beirut dead people =bad
Tehran dead people =good.

MarcusP12

splinter65 wrote: »

It’s hard to get your head around how some people’s minds work. Beirut dead people =bad
Tehran dead people =good.

I think trump hacked his account:rolleyes:

splinter65

MarcusP12 wrote: »

I think trump hacked his account:rolleyes:

The only other thing is that he/she possibly meant something entirely different. That poster is on boards for many years and that’s not a true reflection of him/her.

MarcusP12

splinter65 wrote: »

The only other thing is that he/she possibly meant something entirely different. That poster is on boards for many years and that’s not a true reflection of him/her.

Very difficult to think how else it could be interpreted though....poster clearly has a very "Americanised" view of the region which is fair enough if you want to talk about politics and terrorism, etc but the implication here was that bad things should happen in bad countries (in their opinion) and in this example, innocent civilians are preferable to be killed in that bad country....innocent civilians are innocent civilians no matter where they are from....

shaveAbullock

splinter65 wrote: »

The only other thing is that he/she possibly meant something entirely different. That poster is on boards for many years and that’s not a true reflection of him/her.

The same poster couldn't understand how a camera could survive a very minor explosion. Perhaps he just has difficulty with this topic.
However I don't believe low IQ excuses a comment like that.

Gruffalux

Ah lads give it a rest. It was likely a stupid slip of the tongue trying to mean how come real bad guys never get punished. It came out sounding all wrong a nd the pile on is sufficient at this stage. I seriously doubt anyone is wishing such a terrible thing on innocents anywhere.

shaveAbullock

Gruffalox wrote: »

Ah lads give it a rest. It was likely a stupid slip of the tongue trying to mean how come real bad guys never get punished. It came out sounding all wrong a nd the pile on is sufficient at this stage. I seriously doubt anyone is wishing such a terrible thing on innocents anywhere.

It was a disgusting comment about the Persian people, why else would he single them out?

hurikane

Gruffalox wrote: »

Ah lads give it a rest. It was likely a stupid slip of the tongue trying to mean how come real bad guys never get punished. It came out sounding all wrong a nd the pile on is sufficient at this stage. I seriously doubt anyone is wishing such a terrible thing on innocents anywhere.

Ah the poster had climbed up on their high horse, trying to come across as some sort of chemical handling expert talking to boys and girls. Then they lost the run of themselves and reached peak sanctimonious pri*k