Beirut’s ground zero: a rip through the heart of an already dying city

Beirut’s ground zero: a rip through the heart of an already dying city

The twisted and mangled heap of steel that used to be Beirut's port stretched to both horizons; to the left, battered skyscrapers seemed hunched in defeat and an empty highway strewn with wrecked cars led through a heat haze the other way.A traffic barrier was covered in the bloody handprints of those who had somehow survived the cataclysmic blast and had staggered into the apocalyptic aftermath. Ground zero of the explosion that destroyed much of the Lebanese capital was an enormous arc of warehouses, restaurants, homes and shops that, until Tuesday evening, were the still functioning heart of an already dying city.Day broke on Wednesday to a very different reality. Much of east Beirut is no longer habitable, something which the few residents and shopkeepers picking through their wrecked businesses