Stunned and sleepless Beirut residents are searching for missing relatives, bandaging their wounds and retrieving what's left of their homes, after the catastrophic explosion in the Lebanese capital.
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Almost nothing was left untouched by the blast, which obliterated the port and sent a tide of destruction through the city centre.
Elegant stone buildings, fashionable shopping districts and long stretches of the famed seaside promenade were reduced to rubble within seconds of the blast.
At least 100 people were killed and more than 4,000 wounded. The number of dead was expected to rise.
Many blamed the explosion, in a stockpile of ammonium nitrate at the port, on the country's long-entrenched political class, saying it was the result of decades of corruption and neglect.
"They are so irresponsible that they ended up destroying Beirut," said Sana, a retired schoolteacher who was preparing to leave her heavily damaged apartment in Mar Mikhael. "I worked for 40 years to make this home and they destroyed it for me in less than a minute."
"Beirut is gone" said Mohammed Saad, an out-of-town driver making his way through the mangled streets.
"We don't deserve this," said Riwa Baltagi, a 23-year-old who was helping friends retrieve valuables from their demolished homes.
Some of the worst damage was in the leafy neighbourhoods of Mar Mikhael and Gemayzeh, where the blast damaged some of the few historic buildings that survived the 1975-1990 civil war.
Balconies had dropped to street level, where shops and restaurants were buried and chairs and tables turned upside down amid the endless shards of glass.
"I have nowhere to go," a woman said as she wept in what remained of her home in Gemayzeh.
The damage could be seen across town in the popular shopping district of Hamra, and at the international airport south of the city. The blast could be felt as far off as Cyprus, some 200 kilometres away.
Few lamented the damage at the headquarters of the state electricity company, a symbol of the corruption and poor governance that has bedeviled Lebanon since the end of the war.
Lebanon was already mired in a severe economic crisis, with soaring unemployment and a plunging exchange rate that had erased many people's life savings. The blast demolished a major wheat silo at the port, raising concerns that the small country, which relies on imports, may soon struggle to feed itself.
Children were among the thousands rushed to hospitals, where many patients had to be treated in hallways and parking lots once the wards filled up.
There were some glimmers of hope amid the tragedy. A widely circulated video showed a crowd erupting in applause as a civil defence worker was rescued from under the rubble. In another, showing the moment of the blast, a nanny grabs a little girl and pulls her to safety as the windows of the apartment shatter inward.
Throughout the night, radio presenters read the names of missing or wounded people. An Instagram page called "Locating Victims Beirut" sprung up with photos of missing people. Another account helped to connect the newly displaced with hotels and homeowners who were willing to host them.
Elie Khoueiry, a 38-year-old father of two, said he's had enough.
His pub was badly damaged in the blast, but business was already suffering because of the economic crisis and a coronavirus lockdown.
"If the ruling class wants us to leave, let them give us tickets and we will go," he said.
Australian Associated Press