A firefighter in protective overalls walks past smoke rising from the Tianjin explosion site
Chinese workers in protective suits began clearing wreckage yesterday, including charred car bodies and crumpled shipping containers, from the site of a chemical warehouse that exploded last week, killing at least 114.
Officials have ordered nationwide checks on dangerous materials, and the Chinese military said it was inspecting storage measures for weapons, ammunition, and fuel as well as chemical, explosive and toxic materials, the official newspaper People’s Liberation Army Daily reported.
Training in the handling of such materials and in executing emergency response plans will also be stepped up, the newspaper said.
Driving home the importance of such efforts, President Xi Jinping and other top leaders gathered in Beijing to hear a report on progress in investigating the disaster.
“Lately, in some places there have been major industrial safety accidents, one after the other, revealing yet again that problems in the area of industrial safety remain prominent and grave,” said a statement issued after the meeting.
Safety work needs to be improved and attitudes need to change to “contain the outbreak of major accidents, bring about a fundamental improvement in industrial safety and safeguard the lives and property of the masses of the people,” the statement read.
Along with safety violations, official corruption was added as a contributing cause of the Aug. 12 disaster. The explosions that rocked the port city of Tianjin were among China’s worst industrial accidents in recent years and the deadliest on record for the country’s firefighters, who accounted for 102 of the 179 total dead and missing. Authorities say almost 700 people remain hospitalized, while 30,000 people in and around the area have had their lives turned upside down by the disaster.
A key question is why the warehouse was able to store toxic chemicals in violation of state safety rules. One explanation offered by the silent owners, identified as former SinoChem executive Yu Xuewei and the late Tianjin port police chief’s son, Dong Shexuan, is that they shopped around until they found a licensed safety inspection company that would give its approval. The two are among at least 10 people reportedly taken into custody, including top officials of the warehouse’s management company.
Homeowners have protested daily on city streets demanding that the government compensate them for damaged homes that they fear are now unlivable because of chemical contamination.
“How are we supposed to live in this ghost town now,” said resident Niu Guijun. “If the government insists on telling us that there’s no problem, they’re welcome to move in and we’ll let the officials live there free of charge.” Paul Traynor, Tianjin, AP
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