Local restaurant looks to help those affected by Beirut explosion

New York based artist describes the explosion

PROVIDENCE, R.I (WLNE) – Owners of a Providence restaurant, who lived in Lebanon for years are doing what they can to help the Lebanese capital that is still reeling from a massive explosion on Tuesday.

The blast tore through buildings across the city,  killing at least 100 people and injuring thousands of others.

The blast could be felt more than 150 miles away and registered as an Earthquake.

“As I’m walking, all of a sudden, everything starts shaking and we hear this double bang and before we can think of what to do next everything exploded”, said Michael Abboud,  a New York-based artist visiting Beirut at the time.

The explosion is linked to more than 2000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse.

Ammonium nitrate is the same material that caused the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, but it was reportedly 1000 times stronger.

It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of people in Beirut are homeless because of the explosion, and now a Providence restaurant is looking to round up donations for those in need.

Francois Karam, an owner of the Opa Restaurant on Federal Hill, saw the video of the explosion and immediately called his family and friends who live there.

“We have a lot of family, we have a lot of friends, luckily no one got hurt. I had a cousin who was working far from there, a lot of his buildings got shattered”, said Karam.

Karam and his family lived in Lebanon for years before coming to the United States to start a new life.

“I lived there for 9 years of my life. To see this happen breaks my heart”, he said.

The Opa restaurant is starting a food drive to ship essentials to those affected by the explosion.

“People are essentially starving to death. Food is so expensive down there now so whatever we can send would be great,” said Karam.

Karam says much of Lebanon’s population has lived through two wars, affected Syria’s conflict, absorbing a million refugees, an economic crisis, and now COVID-19.

He’s hoping the country will bounce back twice as strong.

Karam and his family are starting a Facebook page for donations.

©WLNE-TV/ABC6 2020