Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister has announced that Canada will offer $5 million to Lebanon after a pair of explosions recently destroyed large part of Beirut and killed at least 100 people.
While making the announcement via a tweet recently, Francois-Philippe Champagne said Canada is “providing an initial $5 million in humanitarian assist for the people of Lebanon.”
The Minister said $1.5 million will be offered to Lebanon’s Red Cross to cater for urgent needs like food, shelter and emergency medical services.
According to Champagne, Canada will “continue to monitor the situation on the ground closely” and offer appropriate additional assistance.
The blasts happened near Beirut’s port and central district.
The first blast took place just after 6 p.m. Lebanese time.
It is still unclear what triggered the explosions, though authorities are of the opinion that the first blast may have happened at a warehouse that contain fireworks at the port.
According to information, the second blast is occurred at a warehouse that used to house almost 2,750 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate.
Investigation is still ongoing and Beirut has been placed under a two-week state of emergency.