The Beirut explosion that has killed more than 70 and injured thousands may also worsen the city's hunger crisis, Save the Children says.
The massive explosion that rocked Lebanon's capital flattened much of the port and sent a shock wave that damaged buildings across the city. Hospitals in Beirut are reporting that they are unable to treat further casualties as hundreds of beds immediately filled up following the blast. Officials said they expected the death toll to rise further as emergency workers dug through rubble to remove the dead.
One Australian had been killed and Australia's embassy had been damaged in the explosion.
While the focus right now is on the loss of life and the number injured, there are growing concerns about the disaster's effect on food security.
Only last week, Save the Children reported half a million children are hungry in Beirut as a rising number of Lebanese families lose their income and sink into poverty due to the economic shock of the coronavirus lockdown.
The explosion destroyed the country's largest port - which will now make it harder to import food and other aid - as well as silos that contain the national grain reserve. Lebanon imports up to 80 percent of its food needs and is particularly reliant on imported soft wheat to make Arabic flatbread. About 85 per cent of the country's cereals are stored in the facility, according to trading company Mena Commodities.
Even the wheat that survived the blast has been made inedible by the explosion, which was probably caused by heaped sacks of fertiliser chemicals, The Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade said on Tuesday in Beirut.
It could not have come at a worse time: Save the Children
Last week, Save the Children reported that in the Greater Beirut area almost one million people do not have money to buy essentials, including sufficient food. This number included more than half a million children, the NGO said.
"We will start seeing children dying from hunger before the end of the year," said Jad Sakr, acting Country Director of Save the Children in Lebanon.
Lebanon is going through an economic crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic. Since September last year, prices for basic items such as food and shelter have soared by 169 per cent, while unemployment has risen up to 45 percent.
"Children, even those from Lebanese middle-income families, are increasingly eating less or nothing at all for a whole day," Mr Sakr said last week.
A recent World Food Program-survey showed that one in five Lebanese families skipped meals or went without food for a whole day.
In a statement released shortly after the blast, Mr Sakr said, "The incident could not have occurred at a worse time and has hit communities who were already suffering from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis."
"Beirut's main port, now completely damaged, is vital for much of the food, grains, and fuel that Lebanon imports, and families will immediately feel the shortage in basic needs as a result of this tragedy."