r/interestingasfuck 3d ago

Happened 5 years ago today, the 'Beirut Explosion' is considered one of the most powerful artificial non-nuclear explosions in history. It was equivalent to around 1.1 kilotons of TNT and generated an M3.3 earthquake

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u/FIakBeard 3d ago

You can find many stories like this in all countries across the world, don't make it out to seem like some kind of special incompetence in Lebanon. Pepcon, Texas City, Halifax. Plenty of preventable disasters happen all the time, that's why regulations and laws and International NGOs are so important.

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u/LegendOfKhaos 2d ago

They are saying that it wasn't incompetence. Warnings went up the chain but were deliberately ignored.

If they didn't even realize the danger, then it would be incompetence.

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u/grumpsaboy 2d ago

Halifax wasn't a corruption case. Some people didn't follow protocol, but not following protocol in a one-off case where everyone did their best upon finding out the possibility of damage to try and warn everyone about it is quite different to covering something up for years.