Massive explosion in Tianjin

[Silent]

 

 

I really hope some new safety regulations come outta this so this does not happen again.

As we don't really know what the cause is, too early to make such a call. Based on what I've heared I would not be surprised if better training and or information for the firemen would be a better solution. Using water to extinguish chemical fires is generally not the best plan. Also the suggestion of lu to enforce rules better may be part of the solution. Making new rules while the rules are just ignored is pointless.

 

Every high profile incident there is the predictable call to take measures, not seldom politicians way to take action is to create new rules. Often these new rules have little to no added value to increase safety but do make things more complex and add costs. This mainly increases the risk of non-compliance to the new and existing rules unless they are strictly enforced. The way to go is research the causes of the disaster, Based on the chain of events one can judge or new regulation are needed, old regulations should be enforced or perhaps just operating procedures should be reviewed.

[edelweis]

@june : I wouldn't want to move to Tianjin now.

What about the pollution from all those chemicals?

(perhaps it's not really worse than before, or worse than in other Chinese cities, but *knowing that they have been blown up into the air and water* would keep me awake at night...)

[Bigdumogre]

@june : I wouldn't want to move to Tianjin now.

What about the pollution from all those chemicals?

(perhaps it's not really worse than before, or worse than in other Chinese cities, but *knowing that they have been blown up into the air and water* would keep me awake at night...)

People are reporting a nasty chemical smell in the air that gets pretty potent at times. I would be worried about that too.

[gato]

There were 700 tons of sodium cyanide stored at the warehouse. There is concern that rain would lead to cynide leaking into ground water.

[junebug1000]

Ugh I wish I had a choice but I have to be there in time for school. I really hope it is not too bad.

[Shelley]

I hope it is ok for you junebug1000 but I am glad it is not putting you off going, have to admit if it was me I would still go.

[陳德聰]

I read somewhere that there was initial protest when the 开发区 was proposed. Does anyone with better sleuthing skills than me want to find the article =T

 

Interesting... A friend of mine keeps posting things on facebook:

 

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/realtime/news/20150815/54090487 is one of the most recent links. I had already seen reports of residential buildings being within 600 metres of the storage facility, but now it seems with this article they are alleging that the storage facility was not authorized to store the chemicals it did, and that there were workers who were not trained in the first place on how to handle or store those chemicals. Apparently the website for the company is down :\

[Kenny同志]

I don't know how many people were killed in the explosions but looking at some of the pictures, I reckon it might be a huge mistake to assume what the government says is true.

 

http://news.china.com/focus/tjgbz/11173334/20150814/20196143_10.html#photos

http://china.huanqiu.com/photo/2015-08/2791510_14.html

 

I suspect none of those in the buildings would have been able to survive. Some victims might have just been vaporised by the same heat that melted wheels of the cars.

[Kenny同志]

https://www.aboluowang.com/2015/0814/598011.html#sthash.S9wAx7LF.Ae00FHwP.dpbs

 

This is probably more credible.

[Meng Lelan]

Looks almost like Hiroshima. 

[SuEn]

I live in Tianjin so I've been following this very closely. While it's obvious the government is not telling the whole truth, I think everybody should do a little more critical thinking when reading all the unofficial information. My husband is Chinese and he keeps showing me all these "facts" and the "truth about the explosion" from WeChat and Weibo and who knows where. He tends to believe everything that's different from what the government is saying. What also adds to the "credibility" of this information is when it gets deleted by the censors. "Look! It's gone. That means it's true. Why else would they delete it?"

Just to illustrate my point, take a closer look at the article Kenny linked to https://www.aboluowa...F.Ae00FHwP.dpbs . 

 

When you scroll down, you see the "爆炸后的卫星地图"(satellite image after the blast), looks scary right? As if the whole area has been completely wiped out. I mean, the Chinese government must be lying to us, everybody living near the blast must be gone. Just look at the image, it's all black, like burned down. Right? Well, not really. This is the area in the picture on baidu maps  http://j.map.baidu.com/idjK5 . This is not where the explosion happened and it seems to be the black stuff is coal. Makes me wonder, did the author not verify the image or is this deliberate? And then the article talks about all these collapsed residential buildings and an entire neighborhood being wiped out. Take a look at real before and after satellite images here . You can see all the apartment complexes still standing. I mean, sure, many people were injured by broken glass and there is a lot of damage to the residential areas nearby but they definitely have not been completely destroyed.

 

I don't know the truth, I can't say for sure that none of the information in the article is true, but I think its overall credibility is very low.

[emmanuel]

I agree with @SuEn. The exposition wiped out warehouse area. It was night and I think there weren't a lot of people. May be government doesn't tell truth, but I also don't believe people who tells that thousands of people died. 

[Kenny同志]

I don't believe the government nor Apollo.

[Kenny同志]

The government has good reasons to lie to the public.

 

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20150815/19256808?_ga=1.174397282.1752460157.1438327168

[mudhead]

I read that there was a huge quantity of calcium carbide stored there, and that they tried to fight the fire with water. If you combine calcium carbide with water, it produces acetylene gas, which is the highly flammable gas used in welding torches. If this is true, then by "fighting" the fire in this way, they CREATED the explosions. Sounds like untrained personnel who had no clue how to deal with the explosive & dangerous materials they were storing.

[Kenny同志]

家属:为什么我们外编队员没上名单?正规队员就上了

 

【为什么我们外编的队员没有上（公布）名单？正规的队员就上了名单？】现场维持秩序的警察：我们公安干警也有死的，为嘛报的都是消防战士呢？公安干警一个没报，我们一个派出所都没了…

http://news.china.com/focus/tjgbz/11173334/20150815/20201024.html

 

 

 

 

http://news.163.com/15/0815/11/B12BAN660001124J.html?bdhz

 

 

Not surprising at all.

[Kenny同志]

http://news.163.com/15/0815/01/B118BR2H0001124J.html

 

公安部官员称事发前后18个消防中队救援

 

据悉，除此前在现场救援的天津46个公安消防中队1200余名官兵外，公安部消防局13日晚又调集了河北沧州、廊坊、唐山消防支队的232名消防官兵、16台消防车、2套远程供泡沫系统赶赴事发地增援。目前，消防官兵们正在分两班轮流作业，为启动大规模搜救行动争取宝贵时间。

 

 

http://news.china.com/focus/tjgbz/11173334/20150815/20199670.html

天津港三支编外消防队先入火场，伤亡不明

 

The article was removed but you can see the title in the right column on this page.

http://pl.china.com/listpagesrc.html?clienttype=0&channelcode=wap&typename=%E6%96%B0%E9%97%BB&typeobjectid=news&title=%E5%AE%B6%E5%B1%9E%3A%E4%B8%BA%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E5%A4%96%E7%BC%96%E9%98%9F%E5%91%98%E6%B2%A1%E4%B8%8A%E5%90%8D%E5%8D%95%3F%E6%AD%A3%E8%A7%84%E9%98%9F%E5%91%98%E5%B0%B1%E4%B8%8A%E4%BA%86&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.china.com%2Ffocus%2Ftjgbz%2F11173334%2F20150815%2F20201024.html&newsobjectid=20201024&md5=57942407acfb7cc24db48448b93ba7a7&navigation=%5B%5B%22http%3A%2F%2Fnews.china.com%2F%22%2C%22%25E6%2596%25B0%25E9%2597%25BB%22%5D%2C%5B%22http%3A%2F%2Fnews.china.com%2Ffocus%2F%22%2C%22%25E6%2596%25B0%25E9%2597%25BB%25E4%25B8%2593%25E9%25A2%2598%25E6%258A%25A5%25E9%2581%2593%22%5D%2C%5B%22http%3A%2F%2Fnews.china.com%2Ffocus%2Ftjgbz%2F%22%2C%22%25E5%25A4%25A9%25E6%25B4%25A5%25E6%25B8%25AF%25E7%2588%2586%25E7%2582%25B8%25E4%25BA%258B%25E6%2595%2585%22%5D%5D

[roddy]

Kenny, have you just posted a link to a site saying 'this is probably more credible' and then later said you 'don't believe it'?

[Kenny同志]

Kenny, have you just posted a link to a site saying 'this is probably more credible' and then later said you 'don't believe it'? 

 

 

Yes, by that I mean what the site says is more credible compared to what the government says but I suspect neither of them is telling the whole truth.

 

Edit: I am not sure if 'the whole truth' is correctly used here. I mean the government is not telling the whole truth because it  瞞報 the death toll but I don't know whether this comment is applicable to what that anti-CCP site says; it is likely that the death toll is lower than what is reported in the article. 

[Kenny同志]

http://news.ifeng.com/a/20150815/44437480_0.shtml

 

新京报快讯 (记者侯润芳 程媛媛 实习生胡克凡)8月15日下午，一名从爆炸中心逃生后获救的瑞海物流公司仓库职员，向新京报记者介绍了逃生的过程。

这名职员告诉新京报记者，8月12日晚11点多，他和同住公司办公楼的同事看到外面有一道火光，接着宿舍有人说着火了，不少同事急忙跑下楼去查看情况。“后来发生第一次爆炸，有人被炸飞，三四百人四散而逃。”他也跟着往外逃，看到有一个集装箱，便赶紧躲了进去。

第二次爆炸时，有的集装箱被炸飞直接砸到他躲藏的集装箱上。次日早上7点多，消防员在集装箱中找到了他，并将他送往附近医院治疗。

据其介绍，他获救后公司一直没人和他联系。“我试着和熟悉的人联系，但他们的手机都打不通。

 

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