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Magnitude of Beirut Blast Demands Costly Response

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The United Nations is preparing an appeal to cover the
   enormous emergency and acute humanitarian needs of hundreds of
   thousands of survivors of last week's devastating explosion in the
   center of Lebanon's capital Beirut. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from
   Geneva.

   The magnitude and destructive impact of the blast is only now becoming
   clear. Latest reports put the number of killed at around 160, with 60
   people missing and more than 5,000 injured.

   An estimated 300,000 people are homeless. And, the explosion, caused by
   2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate knocked out Lebanon's principle port,
   which imports nearly 85 percent of the country's food.

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