The explosion has left as many as 300,000 people homeless, Beirut's governor has told AFP news agency.
Marwan Aboud added that the estimated cost of the explosion is somewhere between $3bn and $5bn (£2.2bn and £3.8bn), with damage spreading across half the city.

Photos from the city show entire streets which appear destroyed, while people have been sharing images from inside their homes which reveal shattered windows and blown out doors amid other damage.

The Economist's Middle East editor Gregg Calstrom has shared these pictures: https://twitter.com/glcarlstrom/status/1290927135398428672?s=20