Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Beirut Explosion)

Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Beirut Explosion

The catastrophic explosion at Beirut porton August 4 that has so far killed at least 220 people, injured around 5,00 and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless.

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon.
The recent explosion was caused by 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored for six years in a warehouse in the city’s port.
The blast was detected by the United States Geological Survey as a seismic event of magnitude 3.3, which was felt in Turkey, Syria, Israel, and parts of Europe, and was heard in Cyprus.

The economy of Lebanon was in a state of crisis prior to the explosions, with the government having defaulted on debt, the pound plunging, and a poverty rate that had risen past 50%.
Lebanon was also already reeling from an economic crisis that triggered antigovernment protests starting in October 2019, when the country’s currency began to lose its value against the dollar.
Food prices have gone up and about one in three people in the country are unemployed.
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic had overwhelmed many of the country's hospitals, several of which already were short of medical supplies and unable to pay staff due to a financial crisis.
Public anger over corruption and the government’s inability to provide even basic services, are in a permanent agitation mood.
Now, with the destruction of Beirut’s port and the country’s main grain silo — which was close to the warehouse storing the ammonium nitrate the consequences of the blast will be felt across the nation.

It is a chemical compound with the chemical formula NH4NO3. It is a white crystalline solid consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. ( It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer and a major use is as a component of explosive mixtures used in mining, quarrying, and civil construction.
Pure ammonium nitrate is not an explosive on its own. It is classified as an oxidiser (Grade 5.1) under the United Nations classification of dangerous goods. If mixed with ingredients like fuel or some other contaminants, or because of some other external factors, it can be very explosive.
Large quantities of stored ammonium nitrate are regarded as a major fire hazard, with multiple reported cases across the world. The explosion of large storage can happen primarily in two ways. ( Some type detonation or initiation because the storage comes in contact with explosive mixture.
Blast can result due to a fire which starts in the ammonium nitrate store because of the heat generated due to the oxidation process at large scale. The second one seems to be the primary likely cause of the incident at Beirut port.

In India, The Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012, under The Explosives Act, 1884, define ammonium nitrate as the “compound with formula NH4NO3 including any mixture or compound having more than 45 per cent ammonium nitrate by weight including emulsions, suspensions, melts or gels but excluding emulsion or slurry explosives and non-explosives emulsion matrix and fertilizers from which the ammonium nitrate cannot be separated”.
As it is used as an ingredient for the production of industrial explosives, anaesthetic gases, fertilisers, cold packs and has a strong possibility of misuse, ammonium nitrate is highly regulated in India.
The manufacture, conversion, bagging, import, export, transport, possession for sale or use of ammonium nitrate is covered under The Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012. The rules also make storage of ammonium nitrate in large quantities in populated areas illegal in India.
For the manufacture of ammonium nitrate, an Industrial license is required under the Industrial Development and Regulation Act, 1951. A license under the Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012 is also required for any activity related to ammonium nitrate.