"Lebanese people have to help each other in the absence of a functioning state," says Hussein Kazoun of Nation Station, a volunteer disaster relief effort operating out of an abandoned gas station.

Last week's explosion has prompted new hopes for political change. But enormous challenges remain. Here's what's at stake and how things may play out.

After explosions convulsed Beirut, here is a selection of photos showing Beirut residents in their destroyed house or workplace, along with a glimpse of their experiences, in their own words.

Tuesday's blast came against a backdrop of ongoing, unaddressed government dysfunction. Some of the country's chronic problems may help explain how 2,750 tons of explosives were neglected at the port.

The massive explosion leveled the city's port and scattered debris across a road thousands of feet away. The blast killed at least 100 people and injured thousands more.

In Lebanon's devastated capital, an essential question looms over a stockpile of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate: Why was it there?