Lebanese public health crisis includes trauma, mental health after explosion

On Aug. 4, Diana Saccal, 55, was alone doing some chores at her house in Hamra, located 3½ kilometers (2 miles) from the port of Beirut. When the explosion took place, the ceiling collapsed onto her head and glass shattered into her face.

“I didn’t understand what was going on and even though I was fully covered in blood, all I could think about was my daughter Lynn, who went out that evening,” Saccal told Al-Monitor. The worst sight was on her way to the hospital when she realized the extent of the damage to buildings and streets, and the innumerable wounded bodies. “It was like a zombie apocalypse horror movie.”

Saccal said that since the explosion, she is constantly scared in her own house, mostly when she sits by the windows. “The smallest sound makes us frightened now,” says her 24-year old daughter, Lynn Zein, who saw her mother covered with blood. She said she is not getting enough sleep.

The number of people who died in Beirut’s massive explosion is 178, with an estimated 6,000 people injured and at least 30 missing, the United Nations said Aug. 14. The numbers are still increasing. Experts say the blast is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in recent history; it is believed to have been accidentally caused by a stockpile of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port.