23 Of The Most Powerful Photos Of The Week

From the tragic explosion in Beirut to flooding and fires seen around the world, these are the most striking and memorable pictures from the past week.

By
Kate Bubacz
by Kate Bubacz

BuzzFeed News Photo Director


A damaged grain silo towers over a smoky landscape flattened by the blast
Getty Images

An aerial view shows the massive damage done to Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on Aug. 5, 2020, one day after a mega-blast tore through the harbor.

People walk around debris and twisted metal with heavily damaged high-rises in the background
Getty Images

The scene of an explosion at the port in Beirut on Aug. 4.

A man with a bandaged head and neck sits on a dining chair, alone on an empty street filled with rubble
Patrick Baz / Getty Images

An injured man sits in front of a restaurant, one of many buildings destroyed in the trendy Beirut neighborhood of Mar Mikhael by the massive explosion in the Lebanese capital on Aug. 5.

A hospital room with two empty beds is seen covered in broken glass with blood splattered on the wall
Hassan Ammar / AP

A damaged hospital is seen after a massive explosion in Beirut, Aug. 5.

A crowd of people in black wearing masks touch a coffin covered in the Lebanese flag
Mohammed Zaatari / AP

Relatives of Lebanese Army Lt. Ayman Noureddine, who was killed by Tuesday's explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, mourn over his coffin during his funeral procession, in Numeiriyeh village, Lebanon, Aug. 7.

A crying woman wears a disposable blue mask pulled down to her chin
Hussein Malla / AP

A Lebanese woman whose son is missing after the explosion Tuesday that hit the seaport of Beirut, cries as she waits outside the port to receive any information from the rescue teams, Aug. 6.

A shirtless man wearing jeans and a sombrero swings a pickax in a grave surrounded by wreaths of flowers
Pedro Pardo / Getty Images

A man digs a grave during a funeral at the San Miguel Xico cemetery in Valle de Chalco, Mexico, on Aug. 5, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A small girl with her hands folded in front of her face holds colorful paper cranes standing along the waterline of a river where other children are gathered
Eugene Hoshiko / AP

Saki Morioki, 5, prays as paper lanterns float along the Motoyasu River in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome, Aug. 6, in Hiroshima, Japan.

Men in orange firefighting suits walk in a line carrying axes along a rocky ridge with a yellow-orange sky caused by smoke
Josh Edelson / Getty Images

Inmate firefighters arrive at the scene of the Water fire, about 20 miles from the Apple fire in Whitewater, California, on Aug. 2.

Xavier Leoty / Getty Images

A man uses a garden hose to drench his house before being evacuated as a wildfire burns in the background, in La Couronne, France, on Aug. 4.

Sujit Jaiswal / Getty Images

Senior citizens wade in knee-deep water on a flooded road during a heavy monsoon rainfall in Mumbai on Aug. 4.

A man stands watching choppy muddy water come down the street
Medianews Group / Getty Images

Floodwaters surge a street in Muhlenberg Township, Pennsylvania, flooded after heavy rains from Tropical Storm Isaias, Aug. 4.

Bedsheets are draped over a second-story railing of a house surrounded by furniture moved outside to dry
Sean Rayford / Getty Images

A boy walks in front of a home with items laid out to dry following storm surge from Hurricane Isaias on Aug. 4 in Holden Beach, North Carolina.

Luis Robayo / Getty Images

A teacher wearing a pink biosecurity suit as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus sits at a pink kids table while instructing a girl at home in Cali, Colombia, on Aug. 4.


Drew Angerer / Getty Images

President Donald Trump holds up a walking stick given to him by Sen. Lamar Alexander after he signed the Great American Outdoors Act in the White House on Aug. 4.

An aerial shot of thousands of people walking down a boulevard surrounded by trees and toward the skyline of Berlin
Markus Schreiber / AP

People gather at the Brandenburg Gate for a demonstration against coronavirus restrictions in Berlin, Aug. 1.

Two lines of soldiers in green formal uniforms, with a line of brides in white standing in between them
China News Service via Getty Images

Armed police officers and their brides attend a group wedding ceremony on Aug. 6 in Kunming, China.

Ernesto Benavides / Getty Images

A clown in a face mask image of clown makeup poses before performing at Puente Piedra district in the northern outskirts of Lima, Peru on Aug. 3.

The shadow of a giant Ferris wheel looms over beachgoers with uniformly distanced cabanas and tents
Picture Alliance / Getty Images

Holidaymakers sunbathe on the Baltic Sea beach, Germany, Aug. 6.

Two astronauts smile and give a thumbs-up as a man enters the capsule
NASA / Reuters

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken (left) and Douglas Hurley are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Aug. 2.

Men in uniforms and face masks place their hands on the shells of three large sea turtles on the beach
Sonny Tumbelaka / Getty Images

Marine police prepare to release green sea turtles on Kuta beach near Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Aug. 5, after authorities arrested seven people on the Serangan waters for allegedly attempting to smuggle 36 of the animals.

An older man in a suit with a laurel crown smiles as another man in formal ermine hands him a graduation certificate
Guglielmo Mangiapane / Reuters

Giuseppe Paterno, 96, Italy's oldest student, is awarded his graduation certificate after completing his undergraduate degree in history and philosophy, during his graduation at the University of Palermo in Italy, July 29.

A full orange moon rises over the ruins of a colossal temple with gigantic columns
Valerie Gache / Getty Images

The full moon rises behind the ancient temple of Zeus in Nemea on Aug. 3



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