Cité Unie – Les Afriques en débat

The Beirut Explosion of 4th of August
2020: A Resident’s Personal Report
Par Charbel Matta
On August 4, a double explosion in Beirut’s harbour destroyed several districts of the Lebanese capital,
injuring 6 500 and killing more than 200 people, three hundred thousand Lebanese lost their homes.
In addition to the physical damage, the explosion traumatised the Lebanese who, out of the sudden,
at home or at work, were hit by the explosion that killed their beloved, destroyed their houses and
left the country in a chaotic situation. Charbel Matta, Lebenase resident at CIUP, was in Beirut at the
day of the explosion. He tells us about his personal experience. La Rédaction.
I n the present article, I will try as much as I
can, through my modest and incapable words, to draw
you a general picture of what I have witnessed on the 4th
of August 2020 in our beloved Beirut.
None of the following contains any sort of
exaggeration or amplification for the sake of dramatization,
nor do I proclaim any supreme objectivity as this reflects
my own perception and personal experience of the event
that ripped to shreds the heart of our country and its
people.
The article consists of a series of descriptive
chronological “screenshots”, graved in my mind and
spirit from the moment of the explosion.
LIBAN
Just to provide you with some quick general
background to further understand the state of mind
of the Lebanese people, the average Lebanese in his
twenties has already experienced/witnessed/survived at
least a dozen of political assassinate explosions since the
beginning of the 2000’s, in addition to the 2006 Israeli
offensives and bombardments through all Lebanese
lands, and not forgetting the continuously emerging
foreign jihadists/terrorists extremists clashes and attacks
every once in a while in several Lebanese regions and
borders. The older generations have even survived more
bitter experiences, including the Lebanese Civil War from
1975 to 1990, the Syrian occupation until 2005, the Israeli
invasion of 2006, the constant internal and external
conflicts and oppressions… Briefly, as Lebanese, we are
sub-consciously in a vigilant state to “expect and accept”
the worst inevitable incoming spectacle.
However, the 4th of August explosion that rocked
the port of Beirut was by far the most catastrophic incident
that took the misery of a country and its population to
the next level. Everyone has probably seen several videos
of the moment of the explosion and the following events
to have an idea about the enormity of the massive blast.
In accordance with the media records, the explosion was
felt in several Middle East and European countries up to
more than 250 km (160 mi) away, and it was detected by
the United States Geological Survey as a seismic event
of magnitude 3.3, considered one of the most powerful
non-nuclear explosions in history.
Scene 0: Tuesday, August 4 at 6 pm, my colleagues
The building of Saifi Urban Gardens and Café Em Nazih, a very
frequented hostel and restaurant in Beirut, before the explosion...
and I are preparing to leave our office in Hamra (a 3 min
drive away from Beirut port) at the end of the usual
working day. 6:08 pm, I am walking on the street towards
my car, when I notice in the sky some strange orange
yellowish cloud flashing uncommonly from behind the
tall buildings facing me from the Beirut sea side area.
It was probably the matter of seconds or less but I
remember very well, (one) ignoring it at first instance and
continue walking normally for a few steps, (two) feeling
the extraneous induced blast wave shocking me from
both sides, and then (three) hearing the massive booming
of the explosion that shook the hell out of me. Like a
crazy three year old boy, I started running in the middle
of the road in the opposite direction. In my confused
background mind, I just realized it was an explosion, and
I directly started associating it with a certain political
assassination event, as the general political and socioeconomic
situation in Lebanon was favorable for such
a scenario (unfortunately it was much worse). When
I looked back a few seconds later, all the glass from
the vitrines behind me had fallen on the ground, most
windows of the high towers had fallen or was hanging
©Sana Asseh
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