Every Haifa resident watching the images from Beirut this week must have wondered whether this could have happened right here at home.
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The Haifa Bay serves as a major industrial hub, replete with dangerous substances that can spontaneously combust at different levels. Some are essential for various manufacturers and industries, chiefly among them agriculture, which uses a variety of fertilizers.
In 2017, the residents of the area breathed (pun intended) a sigh of relief after a court ordered the emptying of Haifa Bay's ammonium storage facility.
But their celebration was shortlived: It turned out that the ammonium is still around, only this time it is ferried using trucks on our motorways after being unloaded from large ships. In fact, the storage tank has yet to be emptied entirely, and even once that is done the danger will remain.
Like many in the area, I have not been too preoccupied with this matter until I saw the footage from the Lebanese capital.
After watching the horror show there – with the graphic devastation just a two-hour drive from my city – I now call on authorities at the local and national level to act without delay so that this does not happen here.
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