Miscellaneous News

[MwRYum]

It may be of some comfort that the affected area appears mostly to be Warehouses and Vehicle storage rather than dense residential. The housing blocks affected seem low rise blocks and old styled.
Not trying to belittle the impact, but at least the casualties will be only a fraction of what they otherwise could be.

Unofficial accounts said that the fire department initially called in were not informed of the nature of the fire - all they knew at that time was there's a warehouse fire in progress (it was warehouse alright, but one that stores dangerous chemicals), first responders arrived on scene only realised something amiss when they first hosed down the flame - just about the time crew chief called everyone back off it went kaboom.

On another note, the Tianhe-1 supercomputer cluster is housed within that very industrial district, while official statement claimed the shut down was merely precautionary and the physical clusters are undamaged - can't say the same about the building.

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The building is about 2km away from ground zero but look at those shattered windows, this is no small boom.

 

[Jeff Head]

It may be of some comfort that the affected area appears mostly to be Warehouses and Vehicle storage rather than dense residential. The housing blocks affected seem low rise blocks and old styled.
Not trying to belittle the impact, but at least the casualties will be only a fraction of what they otherwise could be.

I agree Sampan.

it looked from the first reports like the causalities were going to be very large.

But with the pics of the utter devastation looking like it is relegated to the purely industrial areas, I agree that the causalities and deaths will be a lot less...and that is something to be thankful for:

 

[Jeff Head]

Unofficial accounts said that the fire department initially called in were not informed of the nature of the fire - all they knew at that time was there's a warehouse fire in progress (it was warehouse alright, but one that stores dangerous chemicals), first responders arrived on scene only realised something amiss when they first hosed down the flame - just about the time crew chief called everyone back off it went kaboom.

To punctuate the point about the first responders. Look at this fire truck the next day:



RIP to those brave 1st responders.

 

[plawolf]

Looks like a warzone.

I have a horrible feeling they are not going to find many of the missing firefighters alive.

Far too many Chinese firefighters and other first responders have died, often needlessly, because of nasty surprises when dealing with industrial accidents.

I think the best thing that can come out of this is a new dangerous and hazardous goods registration law, whereby anyone handling and storing dangerous, especially explosive and/or toxic goods must register with local authorities on the nature of the goods they are storing/transporting.

The local authorities should also be compelled to draft contingency plans on how to deal with likely incidents involving such facilities, including fire, earthquakes, Typhoons, industrial accidents and terrorist attacks etc.

That means that if there is a fire or other emergency at such a location, the local authorities would already have a ready-made game plan on all the things that need to be done ready that they just need to follow, and that first responders know what they are dealing with and are as prepared as possible when going in.

 

[solarz]

Heads are definitely going to roll following this. Clearly the warehouse was not properly maintained and the chemicals were not properly stored. Hopefully this will serve as a wake-up call to the rest of China.

 

[Jeff Head]

Deleted duplicate

 

[Jeff Head]

Latest CCN Report:

Among the 50 confirmed dead are 12 firefighters, officials said Thursday. More than 500 people are hospitalized, 71 in critical condition, the state-run Xinhua news outlet reported. Dozens of firefighters are missing.

Local authorities suspended firefighting efforts Thursday because of a lack of information about the "dangerous goods" stored at the warehouse at the heart of the blasts, Xinhua said.

Death toll up to fifty now, with many still missing. Over 500 injured.

I expect both numbers will rise.

This is a picture from ground zero:



Looks like something where a tactical nuke went off. Unbelievable devastation.

Apparently fire fighting efforts have been called off as of Thuursday because there is still question as to what materials are stored in other, at risk warehouses.

Here a few more pictures:

 

[solarz]

I just want to note that the Chinese media is being given surprising transparency over this event. Only five years ago, the first instinct of the government would have been to cover up or downplay it as much as they could. The fact that Xinhua was the first to report this, and on twitter no less, is amazing.

 

[Janiz]

The fact that Xinhua was the first to report this, and on twitter no less, is amazing.

Indeed, covering up for an explosion witnessed by some 10 millions of people was a courageous act on behalf of Xinhua and a great act of transparency.

They could have written that CPC Provincial Secretary farted instead in the morning newspapers...

 

[Phoenix_Rising]

The screenshot of a Weixin conversation between firefighter Liu Shikang刘世嵻 and his friend, on 2:00am, Aug.13 , before Liu dive into the fireground.

01:48am
Liu Shikang: “Are you there bro”
Liu's friend: "Aye yeah"
Liu's friend: "What's up"

01:52am
Liu: "I can't make a phonecall."
Liu: "Gangzi is gone,"
Liu: "Sacrificed, K.I.A.,"

01:53am
Friend: "What the fart you are talking"
Friend: "Where are you"

Liu: "In the vehicle, to Tangku"
Liu: "Tanggu,"

Friend: "You give me a phonecall"
Liu: "I've put on all equipments now, I'm the only one carried full-set,"
Friend: "Then you call me tomorrow after you come back You must."

Liu: "Once I can't get back, my father is your father"
Liu: "Remember to sweep my mom's grave"
Friend: "Yes your father is my father"
Friend: "You be careful"


10 hours later, the friend posted on his Weibo, "Liu and his echlon get back safely, now having a rotate off."