I thought there was an earthquake: Dubai expat visiting family in Lebanon recounts dreadful blasts

Lebanese expat Rami Hatab thought it was a powerful earthquake when the hospital building he was in Beirut started shaking.
Recounting the horror when the twin blasts ripped through central Lebanon on Tuesday, Hatab said what followed was "dreadful".
His father got thrown away due to the impact of the blast.
"I was with my mother who had a medical checkup. Suddenly, the building started shaking and I could hear people screaming and running in all directions. Nobody knew what was happening and there was utter panic," Hatab told Khaleej Times over the phone from Beirut.
The Dubai-based expat had travelled to Beirut on July 25 to spend a month with his family.
Though he was almost 10km away from the port where the blast happened, Hatab said he could feel the impact as though it happened a "few metres away".
"I got my mother to safety and then started looking for my father. I cannot even begin to tell you what was going in my head because my father was somewhere close to the port. For an hour, I feared the worst when I could not reach him. All telephone lines were either jammed or not working."
Hatab said it was a 'relief' when he finally heard from his 65-year old father. "He injured his nose and head but he is fine now. But my father said half of Beirut is destroyed. He saw the city falling apart. It won't be the same anymore."
He said the downtown streets are full of debris from collapsed buildings and damaged vehicles.
"It is a terrible scene at the hospitals that are overflowing with the injured and with people looking for loved ones who have gone missing."
Hatab said many other Dubai expats are affected by the blast. "I am still searching to find the mother of one of my friends from Dubai. She was in Al Roum hospital that got devastated in the blast. We have been searching all night but still cannot locate her. My friends in Dubai are panicking."
In the face of the tragedy, he said people are coming together to help each other.
"There is nothing much we can do other than be kind to others. People are opening up even their one-bedroom houses for the homeless."
anjana@khaleejtimes.com 

• Dubai
• MENA

Anjana Sankar

anjana@khaleejtimes.com