![Tianjin explosion location en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Tianjin_explosion_location_en.svg)
On 12 August 2015, a series of explosions at the
Port of Tianjin in
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
, northern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, killed 173 people, according to official reports,
and injured hundreds of others. The explosions occurred at a
container storage station in the
Binhai New Area of
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
, China. The first two explosions occurred 33 seconds apart. The second explosion was far larger and involved the detonation of about 800 tonnes of
ammonium nitrate (approx. 256 tonnes
TNT equivalent).
Fires caused by the initial explosions continued to burn uncontrolled throughout the weekend, resulting in eight additional explosions on 15 August.
The cause of the explosions was not immediately known, but an investigation concluded in February 2016 that an overheated container of dry
nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
was the cause of the initial explosion.
The official casualty report was 173 deaths, 8 missing, and 798 non-fatal injuries. Of the 173 fatalities, 104 were firefighters.
Background
Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics (), or Ruihai Logistics (), is a privately held logistics company established in 2011. It handles hazardous chemicals within the
Port of Tianjin, such as flammable and corrosive substances, oxidizing agents, and toxic chemicals. The company, which employed 70, is designated by the
Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration () as an approved agent for handling these hazardous chemicals at the port,
and its operating license was renewed two months prior to the explosions.
Its site contains multiple warehouses for hazardous goods, a fire pump and a fire pond.
The warehouse building, owned by Ruihai Logistics, is recorded in a 2014 government document as being a hazardous chemical storage facility for
calcium carbide,
sodium nitrate
Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. T ...
, and
potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrat ...
.
Safety regulations requiring that public buildings and facilities should be at least 1 kilometre away were not followed, and local inhabitants were unaware of the danger.
The authorities stated that poor record keeping, damage to the office facilities and "major discrepancies" with customs meant that they were unable to identify the substances stored.
State media revealed that Ruihai had only received its authorisation to handle dangerous chemicals less than two months earlier, meaning that it had been operating illegally from October 2014, when its temporary license had expired, to June 2015.
Explosions
The first reports of a fire at a warehouse in the Binhai New Area began coming in at around 22:50 local time (14:50 UTC) on 12 August. The first responders were unable to keep the fire from spreading. Firefighters who first arrived on the scene proceeded to douse the fire with water as they were unaware that dangerous chemicals were stored on the site, thereby setting in motion a series of more violent chemical reactions.
At around 23:30 (15:30 UTC), the first explosion occurred and registered as a magnitude 2.3 earthquake, generating seismic shock-waves energetically equivalent to 2.9 tonnes of
TNT. After 30 seconds, a second, much more powerful explosion occurred, causing most of the damage and injuries with shock-waves felt many kilometres away. The second explosion registered as a magnitude 2.9 earthquake and generated seismic shock-waves with energy equivalent to 21.9 tonnes of TNT. The resulting fireballs reached hundreds of meters in height.
Around 23:40 (15:40 UTC) on 15 August, a series of eight smaller explosions occurred in the port as fire from the original blasts continued to spread.
The total energy release was equivalent to 28 tonnes of TNT, or 100
GJ.
The explosion was large enough to be photographed by
Himawari, a geostationary meteorological satellite operated by the
Japan Meteorological Agency
The , abbreviated JMA, is an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It is charged with gathering and providing results for the public in Japan that are obtained from data based on daily scientific observation an ...
(JMA).
Chinese scientists subsequently estimated that the second more powerful explosion involved the detonation of about 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, based on crater size and lethality radius (336 tons TNT equivalent, based on
relative effectiveness factor of 0.42).
One month after the explosion, official reports listed 173 deaths and 797 injuries.
Media reported the area to be densely populated, with around 5,600 families living within radius of the plant, the closest being only away.
Neither the developers nor the buyers were aware of the latent dangers of the activities at the nearby site; developers claimed also to be victims.
According to the Tianjin government, more than 700 people were injured by the explosion,
many with extensive injuries, mostly from
burns and
explosive blast injuries
A blast injury is a complex type of physical trauma resulting from direct or indirect exposure to an explosion. Blast injuries occur with the detonation of high-order explosives as well as the deflagration of low order explosives. These injuri ...
. Over a thousand firefighters were on scene, and 95 were killed.
One surviving firefighter from his team, a 19-year-old named Zhou Ti (), was found on the morning of 14 August.
The death toll, which also included 11 police officers, was the worst in a single incident for Chinese front line responders since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Damage
![Tianjin explosion scene 20150813 (20)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Tianjin_explosion_scene_20150813_%2820%29.jpg)
Photographs and videos showed extensive destruction in and around the warehouse compound,
with an enormous crater at the blast site.
The buildings of seven more surrounding logistics companies were destroyed,
and large quantities of
intermodal container
An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode of transport, modes of trans ...
stacks were toppled and thrown by the forces of the explosions.
More than eight thousand new cars from
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company
** Hyundai ...
,
Kia
Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...
,
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
,
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
, and
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, parked in lots located near the blast site, were largely
burned
Burned or burnt may refer to:
* Anything which has undergone combustion
* Burned (image), quality of an image transformed with loss of detail in all portions lighter than some limit, and/or those darker than some limit
* ''Burnt'' (film), a 2015 ...
as a result of the initial explosions.
Multiple buildings surrounding the blast site were declared "structurally unsafe". In total, 304 buildings, 12,428 cars, and 7,533 intermodal containers were damaged. Beyond insurance, the cost to businesses of the break in the
supply chain
In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...
caused by the explosions was estimated at $9 billion, making it the third most expensive supply chain disruption of 2015.
Apartment blocks from the site sustained shattered glass, loss of roof tiles and damage to ceilings – with 17,000 units being affected.
Nearby
Donghai Road Station
Donghai Road Station (), also known as Donghailu Station, is a metro station, station of Line 9, Tianjin Metro, Line 9 of the Tianjin Metro. It started operations on 28 March 2004.
The station was severely damaged on 12 August 2015 when 2015 Tian ...
suffered severe damage as a result of the explosions and was closed until 2016, as was the rest of
Line 9 of the Tianjin Metro beginning on 13 August.
A Japanese department store four kilometres away reported damage to walls and ceilings.
The explosions also affected the
National Supercomputing Center of Tianjin The National Supercomputing Center of Tianjin () is located at the National Defense Science and Technology University in Tianjin, China. One of the fastest supercomputers in the world (see "The TOP500 Project" list of supercomputers), Tianhe-1A, i ...
several kilometres away, knocking out windows and causing some internal ceilings to collapse; the center's supercomputer
Tianhe-1A
Tianhe-I, Tianhe-1, or TH-1 (, ; '' Sky River Number One'') is a supercomputer capable of an Rmax (maximum range) of 2.5 peta FLOPS. Located at the National Supercomputing Center of Tianjin, China, it was the fastest computer in the world fro ...
itself was not damaged.
Cause
It is not known what chemicals were being stored at the site.
In addition to vast quantities of
sodium cyanide and
calcium carbide, paperwork was discovered showing that 800 tonnes of
ammonium nitrate and 500 tonnes of
potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrat ...
were at the blast site.
On 17 August, the deputy director of the
public security bureau
A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...
's fire department told
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
:
Ammonium nitrate, which is predominantly used as an agricultural
fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
,
oxidizing agent
An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or "Electron acceptor, accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ). In ot ...
in
explosive compositions, and in manufacturing of other chemicals, has been inculpated in a number of
other fatal industrial explosions. A fire department spokesman confirmed that firefighters had used water in combating the initial fire, which may have led to
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
being sprayed on
calcium carbide, releasing the highly flammable gas
acetylene
Acetylene (systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...
. This would have provided the fuel source for reaction with the oxidizer, ammonium nitrate, thus triggering its detonation more readily.
Pollution
At least 700 tonnes of highly toxic
sodium cyanide was stored at the site – 70 times the legal limit.
Sodium cyanide leakage was reported in the sewer.
On 13 August, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, all of which are toxic, were detected within of the origin of the explosion, but the levels conformed with the national standards. Gases were undetectable from the site during initial testing on 14 August.
When the first rains after the initial explosions arrived on 18 August, white chemical foam covered the streets. Citizens complained of burning sensations and rashes on sensitive skin regions after coming into contact with rain droplets. However, meteorologists and health experts sought to reassure the public that the rain was not directly harmful to health, whilst the Environment Protection Board advised against exposure to the rain due to traces of cyanide dust reacting with water.
Thousands of dead
stickleback
The sticklebacks are a family of ray-finned fishes, the Gasterosteidae which have a Holarctic distribution in fresh, brackish and marine waters. They were thought to be related to the pipefish and seahorses but are now thought to be more closel ...
s washed up on the banks 6 km from the explosion site on 20 August, fuelling fears of water contamination. Officials downplayed the fears, saying that there were not high levels of cyanide in the river and that the fish likely died due to oxygen depletion in the water.
More precipitation throughout August in the Binhai New Area brought more complaints of skin irritations and burns from volunteers and journalists. A bright white foam also manifested yet again on the streets in a similar manner to before. Deng Xiaowen, director of Tianjin's environmental monitoring centre, questionably stated that the foam was apparently; “a normal phenomenon when rain falls, and similar things have occurred before”.
Immediate aftermath
![Tianjin explosion scene (4)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Tianjin_explosion_scene_%284%29.jpg)
On Thursday morning, the Chinese leaders ordered officers in the city to make full effort in rescuing the injured, and search for those missing.
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
, the
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...
and
Li Keqiang
Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is a Chinese politician who is the outgoing premier of China. An economist by profession, Li is head of China's executive branch as well as one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affai ...
, the
Premier of the People's Republic of China
The premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the premier of China and sometimes also referred to as the prime minister, is the head of government of China and leader of the State Council. The premier is ...
, also said police should investigate the cause of the incident and punish those responsible for the blast.
Tianjin officials, concerned at the potential public response, announced initially that 14 people had perished in the explosions, but later raised the death toll to 44 once the scale of the explosions became clear. The ''
South China Morning Post
The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
'' (SCMP) cited a Tianjin police source that officers had been instructed to remove bodies from the scene to deliberately understate the official death toll, which angered the Tianjin government.
The morning following the explosion military personnel began to arrive in Tianjin to help with the search and recovery efforts. Extra equipment, such as bulldozers, were brought in to help with the clean-up operation. Over 200 nuclear and biochemical experts, including a team from the
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
, began arriving in Tianjin to assess the health risks from the chemicals being released into the atmosphere. Government personnel set up twelve temporary monitoring stations near the blast site with above-normal levels of pollutants being detected. A nearby drainage outlet was also closed, and water quality tested.
Firefighting was suspended on the afternoon of 13 August due to the uncertainty of the content and quantity of hazardous materials being stored on site. A team of over 200 chemical specialists was deployed to the site to assess the hazardous materials on site and dangers to the environment, and to determine the best way to put out the remaining fires and proceed with search and rescue and clean-up operations.
Later that day, rescue personnel were dispatched in an attempt to remove the 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide believed to be stored at the site, with
hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3% ...
being prepared to neutralise the chemicals.
Daily press conferences were organised. A press conference organised by local officials held on 14 August came to an abrupt end when a journalist began asking questions as to why such dangerous chemicals were stockpiled so close to housing estates.
Initially, more than 3,500 area residents were staying in temporary shelters,
but the number surpassed six thousand within three days.
The government issued an evacuation order over concerns of further explosions; not all residents complied.
On 15 August, local authorities ordered the evacuation of residents within a radius of the blast site, prompted by the threat of "toxic substances",
including
sodium cyanide.
The State Council ordered inspections of all businesses using dangerous chemicals and explosives across the country.
Company ownership
Hong Kong media announced that Li Liang, the major shareholder of Ruihai Logistics – owning 55%, was the nephew of former chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and ex-party chief of Tianjin,
Li Ruihuan, and that the company may have been named after his brother and Li Liang's father;
the remaining 45% was owned by Shu Zheng.
Reports in state media one week after the explosion were contradictory, holding that Ruihai was owned via proxies by Yu Xuewei, the chairman of Ruihai and a former senior executive at
Sinochem, and Dong Shexuan, who served as the company's vice-president and who had been arrested by police by the time of the reports. Dong Shexuan is the son of Tianjin port's former police chief Dong Peijun, who was a colleague of
Wu Changshun
Wu Changshun (born January 1954) is the former police chief of the municipality of Tianjin, China. Wu is also an inventor, and has 35 patents and utility models to his credit. Wu spent 44 years working for the Tianjin Public Security Bureau (i.e ...
, the former chief of the
public security bureau
A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...
of Tianjin.
The
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), CPC's anti-corruption body, charged Wu Changshun with bribery in 2014; Dong Peijun was also under investigation for corruption, but died that year.
Investigation
After the explosions, the CCDI placed
Yang Dongliang
Yang Dongliang (; born January 1954) is a former Chinese politician who spent most of his career in the city of Tianjin in northern China. He has successively served as the vice mayor of Tianjin, and the Director of the State Administration of ...
, Director of the
State Administration of Work Safety The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS; ), reporting to the State Council, is the non-ministerial agency of the Government of the People's Republic of China responsible for the regulation of risks to occupational safety and health in China. ...
and China's highest work-safety official, under investigation on 18 August 2015. Yang had previously served as Tianjin's vice mayor for 11 years. In 2012, Yang Dongliang had issued an order to loosen rules for the handling of hazardous substances, which may have enabled Ruihai to store toxic chemicals such as
sodium cyanide.
On 27 August,
Xinhua
Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
reported that police had arrested twelve people with suspected connections to the explosions, including Ruihai Logistics' chairman, vice-chairman, and at least three other managers, with the other seven people unnamed.
On 5 February 2016, the
Chinese government issued the investigation report of the explosions. The report concluded the fire started in a container through auto-ignition of
nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
, due to vaporization of the wetting agent during hot weather.
On 8 November 2016, various courts in China handed jail sentences to 49 government officials and warehouse executives and staff for their roles in circumventing the safety rules that led to the disaster. Yu Xuewei, the Chairman of Ruihai Logistics, was sentenced to death with
a two-year reprieve.
Response
Reactions
Immediately following the blasts the company website was taken down fuelling suspicions that an attempt was being made to shield owners with powerful political connections.
For several successive days, local residents seeking compensation for their homes protested in front of the venue of the daily press conference, they were joined by distraught families of missing firefighters, and confronted police angrily.
The Chinese public security minister threatened severe punishment for those found to be responsible for the explosions. However, the authorities did not release any significant information for several days about the chemicals and circumstances, causing public anger to mount during this time.
Marking an official change of tack that suggested top-level endorsement,
the official ''
People's Daily
The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'' joined in to criticise local officials' lack of candour and their use of bureaucratic jargon.
In addition, the ''
Global Times
The ''Global Times'' () is a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the ''People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese ultra-nationalistic perspective. The publi ...
'' remarked on the inadequacy of emergency response and the reluctance of high-ranking officials to answer the public's questions and address their concerns until four days after the blasts.
The ''People's Daily'' acknowledged that public scepticism of the reported death toll was fuelling rampant rumours; there was also disquiet over the emergency assistance provided and the way the aftermath was being handled.
Attempting to defuse widespread anger at the lack of official transparency, mouthpieces of the ruling party declared that investigations would be thorough and transparent.
Former deputy mayor, Yang Dongliang, was put under investigation for corruption; mayor Huang Xingguo proclaimed his "unshirkable responsibility for this accident".
Authorities also released information about the ownership of Ruihai, as well as a confession by one beneficial owner for the proxy shareholdings.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace Asia alleged that two
Sinochem subsidiaries – Sinochem Tianjin Binhai Logistics Company (with a site) and Tianjin Port Sinochem Hazardous Goods Logistics Company Ltd. – had warehouses in the vicinity in close proximity to a primary and a nursery school, meaning that both were also in similar breach of laws.
Observers stated that top officials always attempt to show such disasters as isolated instances, have never accepted political accountability nor addressed the underlying governance issues, and have always heavily censored any criticism of the central government.
Willy Lam, professor at
CUHK
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...
and senior fellow at
The Jamestown Foundation
The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission today is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...
, noted the highly unusual 4 days it took for
Li Keqiang
Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is a Chinese politician who is the outgoing premier of China. An economist by profession, Li is head of China's executive branch as well as one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affai ...
to make an official visit, suggesting that the lack of a top-ranking visitor to a major disaster site within 48 hours despite the proximity to Beijing reflected "division among the leadership on who should be the fall guy."
Media coverage
News outlets
Initially, Tianjin authorities banned editors and reporters from sharing information about the disaster on
Weibo Weibo may refer to:
* Microblogging in China, or China-based microblogging services (), including:
** NetEase Weibo (), launched by NetEase
** People's Weibo (), launched by ''People's Daily''
** Phoenix Weibo (), launched by Phoenix Television
** W ...
and
WeChat
WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...
, and websites were ordered to follow state media.
The Tianjin internet police warned social media users to use only official casualty figures.
Tianjin Television
Tianjin Renmin Guangbo Diantai (), translated as the Tianjin People's Broadcasting Station (TPBS) is a major radio broadcaster in Tianjin, China. They also operate the Tianjin Television station, also known as TJTV. Tianjin Television (TJTV) () ...
had reported the explosion on their early morning news at 7:00 am,
but citizens complained that the station had not reported live nor updated on the event, instead showing soap operas eight hours later.
Social media
A great deal of specific information on the event, including the majority of early stage video, was first released over social media sites, and in particular
microblogging platforms like
Weibo Weibo may refer to:
* Microblogging in China, or China-based microblogging services (), including:
** NetEase Weibo (), launched by NetEase
** People's Weibo (), launched by ''People's Daily''
** Phoenix Weibo (), launched by Phoenix Television
** W ...
. Major media has drawn heavily from social media sources, greatly widening the audience. ''The Economist'' noted, "Social media fills in the blanks left by official narratives of the Tianjin disaster. The most remarkable feature of the aftermath of the explosions in Tianjin, in northern China, has been the extraordinary contrast between the official reaction to the crisis, which has been profoundly flawed, and the online reaction, which has entirely dominated the agenda."
Censorship and criticism
Professional and social media reports were
censored by Chinese authorities.
The censorship rate increased tenfold on the social media site
Weibo Weibo may refer to:
* Microblogging in China, or China-based microblogging services (), including:
** NetEase Weibo (), launched by NetEase
** People's Weibo (), launched by ''People's Daily''
** Phoenix Weibo (), launched by Phoenix Television
** W ...
,
with users reporting the deletion of their posts regarding the blasts, with "Tianjin" and "explosion" being the most censored words.
An article by ''Caijing'', which carried an interview with a firefighter who said that no-one on the front line had been informed of the dangerous chemicals on site that would react
exothermically when mixed with water, was deleted after it had been reposted 10,000 times; many other posts mentioning the existence of deadly sodium cyanide were also expunged.
The
Cyberspace Administration of China banned all journalists from posting to social media, and insisted on strict adherence to Xinhua's editorial line. On 15 August, it announced that it had shut down 18 websites and suspended 32 more for spreading false information.
More than 360 Weibo and public WeChat accounts which had allegedly been spreading such false rumors have been "punished according to laws". Of these accounts, over 160 were shut down permanently.
Press freedom organization
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...
(RSF) accused the Chinese state media of playing up the heroic efforts of rescue workers and firefighters while downplaying the causes of the explosions and the number of casualties. RSF said that censorship by the Chinese authorities showed "a flagrant indifference to the public's legitimate concerns".
A CNN correspondent was interrupted by bystanders and forced to leave during a live report outside
TEDA Hospital
TEDA Hospital () is a general hospital in the Binhai New Area of the Chinese metropolis of Tianjin, named for the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area. In 2015, victims of the Tianjin explosions
On 12 August 2015, a series of ex ...
.
A journalist from the Beijing News reported that he and two other reporters were chased by police, caught, searched, and made to delete photographs from their cameras and computers.
Clean-up and redress
![Entrance of Harbour Park, Tianjin Harbour](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Entrance_of_Harbour_Park%2C_Tianjin_Harbour.jpg)
Tianjin officials announced that as at the deadline on 3 September 2015, more than 9,000 households out of some 17,000 affected by the explosions had signed agreements to settle their damages claims. It was reported that some had chosen to sell their damaged apartments to private developers, who offered them around 130% of the original purchase price, while others accepted an offer from the local government promising to fix the damaged apartments. The local government offered an additional of ¥20,000 renminbi ($3,100) to those who agreed to settle their claims by the deadline. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' journalists, however, reported that some owners had faced heavy pressure from government officials to settle; similarly, owners who were employees in state-owned enterprises were under threat of dismissal from their bosses for not settling.
On 10 September 2015 ''
China Daily
''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
Overview
''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...
'' reported that families of the firefighters killed in the explosions would each receive compensation of 2.3 million yuan (US$360,669), citing a report in Beijing News. It was also reported that a monument would be built on the site and that the government planned to compensate residents whose houses were damaged by repurchasing them at 130% of their purchase price.
Less than a month after the disaster, the Tianjin government announced a proposal to turn the site into an "ecological park", repurposing the explosion crater as a lake and promising a memorial to the victims to be built on site. The proposal was heavily criticized on Chinese social media, which derided the rushed announcement as an attempt to erase the damage and avoid accountability.
The resulting , opened in early 2017, was further criticized for being an extremely rushed and sloppy design. Both the crater lake and the proposed memorial were ultimately discarded; as a result, there is currently no permanent memorial to the disaster.
See also
*
2020 Beirut explosions
On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, as well as leaving an estimated 30 ...
*
2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion
On 21 March 2019, a major explosion occurred at a chemical plant in Chenjiagang Chemical Industry Park, Chenjiagang, Xiangshui County, Yancheng, Jiangsu, China. According to reports published on March 25, 78 people were killed and 617 injured.
...
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2015 Dongying explosion
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2014 Shanghai stampede
On 31 December 2014, a deadly crush occurred in Shanghai, near Chen Yi Square on the Bund, where around 300,000 people had gathered for the new year celebration. 36 people were killed and another 49 were injured, 13 seriously.
Cause
The inciden ...
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2014 Kunshan explosion
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1988 PEPCON disaster
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Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions
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List of accidents and disasters by death toll
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List of explosions
This is a list of accidental explosions and facts about each one, grouped by the time of their occurrence. It does not include explosions caused by terrorist attacks or arson, as well as intentional explosions for civil or military purposes. It ...
References
External links
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Extended panoramic view of Tianjin blast site drone video, ''New China TV'', 14 August 2015.
Drone video of Tianjin explosion aftermath ''New China'', 14 August 2015.
Close footage of the second explosion; footage ends when the camera and the surrounding area are destroyed by the shockwave* .
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{{Ammonium nitrate disasters
2015 disasters in China
2015 industrial disasters
2015 scandals
August 2015 events in China
Environmental controversies
Explosions in 2015
Explosions in China
21st century in Tianjin
Industrial fires and explosions in China
Scandals in China
Man-made disasters in China
Ammonium nitrate disasters
Port of Tianjin
mt:2015 Tianjin splużjonijiet