The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Wednesday expressed its fear of a "problem in the availability of flour" in Lebanon "in the short term" after the explosion that rocked the port of Beirut on Tuesday. On the silos of wheat in it.
"I received a very short message from the FAO official in Beirut: in fact we fear that a large amount of wheat reserves at the port have been damaged or destroyed by the explosion. The stock has been badly damaged," WHO emergency officer Dominique Bourgeon told France Press from Paris.
"We fear that in a very short period of time we will be facing the problem of providing flour in the country," he said in a brief interview by phone.
Lebanon is already suffering from a major inflation in the prices of basic foodstuffs amid severe economic crisis, which reached 109% between September and May, according to the World Food Program.
At least 100 people were killed and thousands injured in the explosion that rocked Beirut´s port on Tuesday. Beirut Governor Marwan Aboud said that the damage caused by the explosion affected about half of the city´s area.
Maya Terro, the founder of Food Blessed, which is concerned with providing food aid, expressed its fear of worsening food insecurity, as the port was the main entry point for imports.
"Lebanon imports 80% of its food needs. I immediately imagined: supermarket shelves are empty, and prices are high because of the shortage," she told France Presse.
