I may be posting this a little late, but in case you have not read the news yet, on 4 August 2020, more than 2700 metric tons of ammonium nitrate stored at a warehouse exploded. The explosion killed 200+ people, injured thousands more, and leaves up to 300000 people homeless.
Now what does this have to do with wikiHow? Because we can maybe collaborate on an article about how to help. I’d like some topic ideas, research, we can collaborate on the article, hopefully get it onto the front page (this is not my field of expertise so I posted here instead), and help those who have been displaced.
2 Likes
Um… duh, but this is collaboration corner, so this is more the place where we help write and improve articles. Please read here
for more information.
- stored for 6 yrs at a warehouse at the port in Beirut.
Even countries are donating only through well-known, official humanitarian agencies. No counties are giving directly to the Lebanese government, businesses, or to individuals.
As with all monetary donations, always investigate the financial structure of a .org These are public documents.
@anon17908336
No, it’s more than donating money. Donate your time, patience and some hard work - cleaning up the area and restoring things back to the way they should be. Clear the land and help rebuild. (Those are things you can research and put into the article @Awesome-Aasim
.
ON a more local front, you may be able to donate blood - dependant on a variety of factors. The Red Cross may ask for more blood as the need increases. However, it’s not as big-scale as some other disasters have turned out to be in the past.
1 Like
Thanks.
I just started the article here: https://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Help-Victims-of-the-Beirut-Explosions
Help me expand the article, and remove the inuse tag when the article appears complete.
1 Like
"# Start/sign petitions to drive change. The chemical that caused the explosion in Beirut, ammonium nitrate, has been involved in similar explosions, including the Oklahoma City bombings, the West Fertilizer Company explosion in West, Texas, and the Tianjin explosions in Tianjin, China. Investigations into the explosion have shown that the chemical was not properly stored for seven years after it was seized by the Lebanese government in 2013. You can start and sign petitions [ https://change.org/
here]. You can also directly petition the US government at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/."
I am curious about why you are including a purposeful bombing at the Federal Building at Oklahoma City (McVeigh sentenced to death). Certainly, a bomber’s deliberate act doesn’t fit in with a storage issue.
What are you suggesting that people protest through petition? – How much fertilizer can be bought? stored? kept? how many years a purchase can be kept (from date of purchase)? Or how long ports can keep the highly volatile mix? Or that welders or anyone with an open flame shouldn’t be allowed within X yards of the material?
In the article, I’d include a line or two that this is a well-known and widely used cheap fertilizer, used in many countries worldwide. It isn’t the chemical, per se, that’s the issue-- until they find something safer. Safety protocols seem, to me, the bigger issue. Like,… should this ever be stored within city limits and if so, for how long?
1 Like
Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else have feedback?
