Welcome to Pushback. I'm Aaron Mate. The massive explosion in Beirut has left a country that was already in crisis facing a new calamity.

Joining me from Beirut is Rania Mastri, a lecturer and activist. Rania, thank you for joining. First, let me just ask you to talk about how you're doing and what you're seeing around you.

You know, it's hard. Well, first, thank you, Erin, for this time.

It's really hard for me to say I'm fine. I'm safe.

And folks that I know are also safe, but none of us

are really fine. We're either in shock or feeling a great deal of outrage over this catastrophe

that was manmade. It's not a hurricane that has hit us. It's not a natural earthquake,

nor is it an act of war committed by an enemy it is

specifically caused by our own criminal negligence and by our I mean our

leaders here in the country so that that's how we're doing as for the state

of the city or or where I was during the blast I mean I was home my my home is

around five kilometers away from the epicenter of the explosion it felt first like an

earthquake and then a minute or two later the sonic boom hit and the windows just exploded open they they didn't shatter but just all the doors

and the apartment the windows they just burst open and I happen to be extremely fortunate other

buildings around me they're glass shattered other buildings a few neighborhoods down, completely fell apart.

We have around 25% of the capital has been decimated.

300,000 people have been rendered homeless.

That's the U.S. equivalent of around 14 million Americans.

5,000 wounded, approximately 135 killed that we know of so far,

and that is only the human loss. So yes, all of this caused by one massive explosion of 2,750 tons

of ammonium nitrate. You mentioned political corruption and incompetence being a cause of this.

Can you talk more about what you see as the, or who you see as the major culprits here?

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