Friday, August 14, 2015

Contamination fears after deadly blast at Chinese port city of Tianjin

Residents living near the site of giant explosions in a Chinese port expressed fears for their safety Friday, after reports there could be hundreds of tonnes of dangerous chemicals at the site.

Officials in Tianjin, where the enormous blasts killed 50 people and injured more than 700, told a news conference they did not yet know what materials were at the hazardous goods storage facility where the explosions happened, or the cause of the blast.

But the Beijing News reported earlier that according to manufacturers, at least 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide were at the site, along with other substances, and the poisonous chemical had been detected in sewage samples in the area.

The report was no longer available on the newspaper's website Friday.

A team of 217 nuclear and biochemical materials specialists from the Chinese military began work at the site on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Little activity was visible in the immediate area Friday, where devastation reigned and smoke still billowed from three different spots, although roads leading to it had been cleared of debris.

Some police wore no protective clothing, while others had full-face gas masks. Officers turned away residents who wanted to see the blast site, barring them from taking photos and telling them: "There's nothing to see here."

At a nearby office building, security guard Liu Zongguang, 50, wore a cheap surgical mask.

"I'm wearing this mask because I saw some police wearing them, but I also saw some without masks, I don't really know what to do.

"I'm really scared, but I don't even know what to be scared of, the government hasn't said anything, nothing about what we should do to keep our families safe from the chemicals."

The People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, said that the facility's construction "clearly violated" safety rules.

Under Chinese regulations, warehouses stocking dangerous materials must be at least one kilometre (0.6 miles) away from surrounding public buildings and main roads, it said, but there were two residential compounds and several main roads within that distance.

Two hospitals, a convention centre, several residential compounds and a football pitch were also nearby, it said.

Approval for the facility was granted in 2013 while sales at one of the two closest residential compounds started the same year, suggesting it had "clearly" been built earlier.

"The warehouse should not have passed the environment assessment under normal circumstances," the paper quoted an unnamed environmental expert as saying.
  (AFP)

france24.com
14/8/15
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4 comments:

  1. Explosions de Tianjin : l'air et l'eau sous haute surveillance...

    Plus de 200 experts militaires des armes chimiques et nucléaires ont entamé jeudi leurs travaux après les deux gigantesques explosions, dont on ignore toujours l’origine et qui ont fait au moins 50 morts et plus de 700 blessés.

    Après le drame, l’enquête et le nettoyage. Plus de 200 experts militaires des armes chimiques et nucléaires ont entamé jeudi leurs travaux après les deux gigantesques explosions, dont on ignorait toujours l’origine, qui ont fait au moins 50 morts et plus de 700 blessés à Tianjin, métropole portuaire de l’est de la Chine. A défaut de savoir avec certitude l'origne de la catastrophe, on y voit désormais un peu plus clair sur l'étendue de la zone des dégâts causés par le souffle consécutif aux différentes déflagration et aux incendies. Une vidéo reconstituant en 3D le déroulé des évènements permet de situer les principales ravagées par rapport à l'épicentre des explosions.....VIDEO.......http://www.lesechos.fr/monde/chine/021262040260-explosions-de-tianjin-les-experts-au-travail-1144407.php?eTbIfqcgPFdt7geC.99#xtor=RSS37

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cyanide and other hazardous substances have been found near the site of deadly blasts in the port city of Tianjin, in northern China, the country’s ministry of environmental protection said on Friday....

    The harmful pollutants detected from two drainage outlets of the warehouse at the center of the explosions were eight times higher than the usual levels, according to the ministry.

    Over 200 soldiers trained to deal with nuclear, biological and chemical catastrophes have been dispatched to Tianjin, where 22 stations have been set up to monitor the environmental situation, and five of them check on water quality.

    A series of powerful blasts at an oil product storehouse in the port city of Tianjin on Wednesday night left 50 people dead and 701 others injured, with 70 of them in critical condition.
    http://tass.ru/en/world/814373
    14/8/15

    ReplyDelete
  3. China Tianjin blasts: Evacuations as sodium cyanide found...

    The Chinese authorities have ordered the evacuation of residents within a 3km radius of the Tianjin blast site over fears of chemical contamination.

    The evacuations came as police confirmed the highly toxic chemical sodium cyanide was found near the site.

    A man was found alive 50m from the blast core, Xinhua news agency said.

    Eighty-five people are now known to have died and hundreds were hurt in the giant blasts in the north-eastern Chinese port on Wednesday.

    People sheltering at a school used as a safe haven since the disaster have been asked to leave wearing masks and long trousers, reports say............http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33945293
    15/8/15

    ReplyDelete
  4. Explosions de Tianjin: 85 morts, les autorités évacuent les habitants ...

    Les habitants de la zone proche du site des explosions survenues mercredi dans le port chinois de Tianjin étaient en cours d'évacuation samedi par crainte d'une propagation des composants chimiques toxiques, a annoncé l'agence Chine nouvelle.

    Selon Beijing News, des policiers armés ont commencé à évacuer la population après la découverte sur le site de cyanure de sodium, plusieurs jours après les gigantesques explosions qui ont tué 85 personnes et provoqué des incendies que les autorités tentent de maîtriser depuis trois jours.

    "En raison d'une propagation des substances toxiques, les populations à proximité de la zone ont été invitées à évacuer" les lieux, a déclaré Chine nouvelle.

    Selon des informations contradictoires, la zone d'évacuation s'étendrait sur deux à trois kilomètres du site des explosions...............http://www.rtbf.be/info/societe/detail_explosions-de-tianjin-85-morts-les-autorites-evacuent-les-habitants?id=9054343
    15/8/15

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