Al-Hajj Samar, Dhaini Hassan R, Mondello Stefania, Kaafarani Haytham, Kobeissy Firas, DePalma Ralph G
Health Management and Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Front Public Health. 2021 Jun 4;9:657996. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.657996. eCollection 2021.
A massive chemical detonation occurred on August 4, 2020 in the Port of Beirut, Lebanon. An uncontrolled fire in an adjacent warehouse ignited ~2,750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate (AN), producing one of the most devastating blasts in recent history. The blast supersonic pressure and heat wave claimed the lives of 220 people and injured more than 6,500 instantaneously, with severe damage to the nearby dense residential and commercial areas. This review represents one of the in-depth reports to provide a detailed analysis of the Beirut blast and its health and environmental implications. It further reviews prior AN incidents and suggests actionable recommendations and strategies to optimize chemical safety measures, improve emergency preparedness, and mitigate the delayed clinical effects of blast and toxic gas exposures. These recommended actionable steps offer a starting point for government officials and policymakers to build frameworks, adopt regulations, and implement chemical safety protocols to ensure safe storage of hazardous materials as well as reorganizing healthcare system disaster preparedness to improve emergency preparedness in response to similar large-scale disasters and promote population safety. Future clinical efforts should involve detailed assessment of physical injuries sustained by blast victims, with systemic mitigation and possible treatment of late blast effects involving individuals, communities and the region at large.
2020年8月4日，黎巴嫩贝鲁特港口发生了一起大规模化学爆炸。相邻仓库一场失控的火灾点燃了约2750吨硝酸铵（AN），引发了近代史上最具毁灭性的爆炸之一。爆炸产生的超音速压力和热浪导致220人死亡，6500多人瞬间受伤，附近密集的居民区和商业区遭到严重破坏。本综述是深入报告之一，旨在对贝鲁特爆炸及其对健康和环境的影响进行详细分析。它还回顾了之前的硝酸铵事故，并提出了可行的建议和策略，以优化化学安全措施、提高应急准备能力，减轻爆炸和有毒气体暴露的延迟临床影响。这些建议的可行步骤为政府官员和政策制定者建立框架、采用法规和实施化学安全协议提供了一个起点，以确保危险材料的安全储存，以及重组医疗系统的灾难准备工作，以提高应对类似大规模灾难的应急准备能力并促进民众安全。未来的临床工作应包括对爆炸受害者身体损伤的详细评估，对涉及个人、社区和整个地区的爆炸后期影响进行系统缓解和可能的治疗。
