Economic Fallout of Beirut Blast Plunges Millions into Poverty

GENEVA - The World Food Program says it plans to scale up food and cash assistance for 1.4 million people in Lebanon suffering from the economic effects of last year's Beirut port explosion.  

More than 200 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured when thousands of metric tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the port of Lebanon's capital exploded August 4, 2020. The country's economic meltdown following the blast is described as cataclysmic.  The World Food Program reports half of Lebanon's population of 6.7 million people and the entire Syrian refugee population of 1.5 million are living in deep poverty and are short of food.    WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri said the situation is so bad his agency is supporting one in six people in the country, which is more than at any time in its history.