Four days after the catastrophic explosion that shocked the world and destroyed a large part of Beirut, Suzie Cooper was on a flight to Lebanon mugging up on blast loads. Final sign-off for the trip had come only 12 hours earlier, around midnight, but by then her bag was already packed.

Tens of thousands of buildings in an area the size of central London were destroyed or damaged by a supersonic blast wave on 4 August that was triggered when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate negligently stored next to fireworks at the port caught fire. 

Experts have described it as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, with the blast heard 160 miles away in Cyprus. It killed 180 people, injured 6,000 more and left 300,000 homeless. Hospitals, schools and 70,000 homes were damaged.

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