What a horrible thing to happen to Lebanon. I heard on the news that 2700 tons of ammonia nitrate went up. To put this in perspective, the Oklahoma City bombing used 2 tons of ammonia nitrate...
This explosion registered 3.85 on the Richter scale and was heard and felt in Cyprus, 180 miles away. Damn, just damn.
My heart goes out to the people of Beirut, may the good Lord help them through this tragedy. Regardless of your religious affiliation, you might slip in a prayer for these folks.
Personal aside, years ago, as a young man I worked in refractory construction and the firm I worked for did a turnaround at an ammonia nitrate plant in eastern Oklahoma. I reported to the plant engineer and on the wall of his office, there was an aerial photograph of the plant flattened. I asked him what happened. He said years prior during the night shift the plant exploded, 4 men were killed and all the windows in the nearest town, 7 miles away were shattered and it rocked the buildings in downtown Tulsa. I asked how much product detonated and he said "Ten tons". I asked how much product did they have on hand at the time, his response was "100,000 tons." I said "I will be done with what I have to do in 24 hours or less". I had been in a refinery when it caught on fire and wasn't all that worried then, but working in that plant spooked me and I got into something else.
This explosion registered 3.85 on the Richter scale and was heard and felt in Cyprus, 180 miles away. Damn, just damn.
My heart goes out to the people of Beirut, may the good Lord help them through this tragedy. Regardless of your religious affiliation, you might slip in a prayer for these folks.
Personal aside, years ago, as a young man I worked in refractory construction and the firm I worked for did a turnaround at an ammonia nitrate plant in eastern Oklahoma. I reported to the plant engineer and on the wall of his office, there was an aerial photograph of the plant flattened. I asked him what happened. He said years prior during the night shift the plant exploded, 4 men were killed and all the windows in the nearest town, 7 miles away were shattered and it rocked the buildings in downtown Tulsa. I asked how much product detonated and he said "Ten tons". I asked how much product did they have on hand at the time, his response was "100,000 tons." I said "I will be done with what I have to do in 24 hours or less". I had been in a refinery when it caught on fire and wasn't all that worried then, but working in that plant spooked me and I got into something else.
