Lebanon-born Shepparton farm contractor Jimmy Chkhaidem said when friends and family in Beirut sent him video and photos on social media he didn't believe it first.
“I thought it was someone having a joke. Then I started crying,” Mr Chkhaidem said.
Since then, he and his wife, Asma, have received more devastating video and pictures of the disaster, which occurred early Tuesday morning when a warehouse at Beirut's port exploded. Shockwaves were sent across the city, smashing buildings, destroying cars and businesses and shattering windows miles inland.
The explosion was so powerful it rattled buildings on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus 160 km away.
Mr Chkhaidem said his father, who lives 30 minutes outside Beirut, had spent all day trying to find friends in the devastated area and help with the recovery effort.
“It's absolutely terrible. Kids have lost their parents and are wandering the streets with nowhere to go,” he said.
“Everyone is going into Beirut to help out. All Lebanese people on the street are one family — they won't allow people to sleep on the street. Everyone helps each other.”
Mr Chkhaidem said his father would open up properties he owned outside Beirut for anyone left homeless by the blast.
“All the people from my village and across Lebanon will be helping,” he said.
Mr Chkhaidem said Lebanese families across Shepparton had been offering money to help the stricken people of Beirut.
“I've had about 50 phone calls from people asking how they can help,” he said.
The explosion has been blamed on a stockpile of 2750 tonnes of seized ammonium nitrate, which had been stored unsafely at the port for six years.
The explosion was the most powerful ever in Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war that ended three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and surging coronavirus infections.
Australian-born Mrs Chkhaidem said the whole country would be devastated.
“So much has happened over the years, but this has shocked the world. It's terrible, but the Lebanese are a strong people, they'll get there,” she said.
The port district was left a tangled wreck, disabling the main route for imports needed to feed a nation of more than six million. Its main grain silo was destroyed and Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud said a further crisis might develop without international intervention.
Mrs Chkhaidem said the port was also a vital distribution point for the whole Middle East.
“This will have a serious affect on the whole region,” she said.
Mr Chkhaidem said he had been left shocked and angry at the explosion, but he had faith in the Lebanese people.
“The people on the street still love each other, but it's not easy. The Lebanese people are strong, but they won't forget,” he said.
Mr Chkhaidem said anyone wanting to help could donate to the Australian Lebanese Medical Association food appeal at: BSB number: 917310, Account No: 700049989
For more details, email president@intima.org
