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[cirrhosis]

Where exactly was the explosion?

This is the general area going around the web:

 

[maniac-kun]

Are there any livestreams from there?

 

[Jackpot]

Remember, a similar explosion in the UK had very few casualties so we might get lucky.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncefield_fire

 

[Suikoguy]

Remember, a similar explosion at the UK's largest fuel depot had very few casualties so we might get lucky.

I hope that to be true, do they have similar zoning requirements in that area compared to the UK and Texas?

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

New York Times finally covering it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/w...mous-explosion.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Article mentions 21 tons of TNT, so that's more like 1/700th the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack. Just since something about that was mentioned earlier.

 

[Agremont]

From the reddit topic

I really hope this isn't true.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

Remember, a similar explosion in the UK had very few casualties so we might get lucky.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncefield_fire

The density of China means this city had nearly 7m citizens if I recall correctly

I don't think we're going to be nearly that lucky :/

 

[maniac-kun]

Found this livestream:

http://english.cntv.cn/live/

 

[smileyforall220]

No one has concrete numbers yet. This dude pulled it out of his butt.

True, the guy put a pretty wide estimate. Fires started in residential areas nearby, but most injuries are probally glass and damage from the shockwave, though hard to say. His is just one first hand account so bear in mind it might not be completely accurate on some stuff.

 

[Walpurgis]

Figured as much. Thanks. Is he perma banned?

Generally speaking, there is no way to tell when a user is perma-banned, at least, not that I know of. A common misconception is disappeared avatar = permabanned but this is not the case. I believe that is a glitch in the system or something.

From the reddit topic

Oh my god. 70k?! When is the last time that many people died at once by a man-made cause? WWII?

 

[kris.]

It's gonna be insane seeing the damage from this in the daylight. It's 5am in China now, so I'm sure we'll get clearer footage here in the next few hours.

 

[stufte]

Generally speaking, there is no way to tell when a user is perma-banned, at least, not that I know of. A common misconception is disappeared avatar = permabanned but this is not the case. I believe that is a glitch in the system or something.


Oh my god. 70k?! When is the last time that many people died at once by a man-made cause? WWII?

I think the 70k number includes injured, not just deaths.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

UNData has them at 7.5m

"Tianjin has an urban population density of 14,100 per square mile (5,400 per square kilometer)."

http://www.newgeography.com/content/004777-the-evolving-urban-form-tianjin

That is fucking terrifying

 

[Suikoguy]

Oh my god. 70k?! When is the last time that many people died at once by a man-made cause? WWII?

His estimates included injuries.

 

[GasProblem]

Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow the death toll won't be as horrible as that supposed local is saying.

 

[31GhostsIV]

It's on The Guardian website: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/12/explosion-chinese-port-city-tianjin

"Kills at least seven, injures hundreds"

 

[Walpurgis]

I hope this is a wake up call for China. I hope they enforce stronger regulations and safeguards to prevent this from ever happening again.

 

[Armoured Titan]

If you look closely. Near the bottom of the gif, there seems to be some firefighters there. You can see what looks like their high visibility jacket. You can also see someone move into view of the camera and shield themselves with their arms.

 

[Walpurgis]

I think the 70k number includes injured, not just deaths.

His estimates included injuries.

Oh right, my eyes must have glossed over that. I hope its mostly injuries.

 

[BahamutPT]

70.000 casualties isn't really outside the realm of possibilities if we take into account the population density and how many people were probably near glass (for example windows, watching the scene), ending up with minor cuts.

 

[backflip10019]

His estimates included injuries.

That's still a massive number of injuries, even if they are minor cuts and bruises from shattered glass.

 

[El Odio]

Hoping that estimated injuries turns out to be much lower in reality.

 

[shadowkat]

Oh my god. 70k?! When is the last time that many people died at once by a man-made cause? WWII?

I'll mention it again, but Halifax explosion from 1917 is still one of the largest non nuclear disasters. 2000 dead and 9000 injured.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

I'll mention it again, but Halifax explosion from 1917 is still one of the largest non nuclear disasters. 2000 dead and 9000 injured.

Happened nearly 100 years ago, right?

Halifax isn't even close to China in terms of population density which is scary but hopefully modern safety measures and architectural choices help

 

[Walter White Walker]

That's horrifying.
I see western media is saying 7 deaths but considering firefighters were on the scene trying to put the initial fire out, it sounds like, that's got to be unfortunately a low estimate.

 

[Dmax3901]

That was insane.

 

[superseohyun]

....at least all those clothes on the washing lines middle front will be dry?

unlike the undercrackers of whoever filmed this

wow...seriously

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

That's horrifying.
I see western media is saying 7 deaths but considering firefighters were on the scene trying to put the initial fire out, it sounds like, that's got to be a low estimate.

The thing is that they can't be speculating and throwing out numbers of how many might be dead. The official word so far is at least 7.

 

[LTWood12]

I can't understand why the media would even say '7 dead.' Like WTF there's no way it's not astronomically more than that.

 

[backflip10019]

I can't understand why the media would even say '7 dead.' Like WTF there's no way it's not astronomically more than that.

Well, that's probably just the number of people who have been confirmed dead. Unfortunately, that number will likely be revised later.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Wow that's pretty big. Wait, is that a skyscraper? Holy shit that second one. What the fuck just happened?

 

[Walpurgis]

I'll mention it again, but Halifax explosion from 1917 is still one of the largest non nuclear disasters. 2000 dead and 9000 injured.

That was the one with the WWI ships colliding? If so I read about it as a kid and it was horrifying. Just the shockwave of these explosions are so damaging that some people's ears popped and their brains turned to jelly while they were sleeping. Windows shattered and glass stabbed people while they were in their rooms and kids on their way to school were completely erased from existence. It happened so fast I don't think they were able to feel anything. I think that explosion was a lot bigger though.

wow...seriously

As a fan of dark humour, even I can't find that remotely funny. We just saw a human being's final moments from their perspective. It's haunting.

 

[NullPointer]

I can't understand why the media would even say '7 dead.' Like WTF there's no way it's not astronomically more than that.

They should only report what they can verify.

But man, an explosion like that... if there were 'only' seven deaths, that would be a miracle.

 

[shadowkat]

Happened nearly 100 years ago, right?

Halifax isn't even close to China in terms of population density which is scary but hopefully modern safety measures and architectural choices help

Yeah, Halifax (then and now) is no where near the population density of China. I mention it since is seems to be a similar situation (cargo ship) and Halifax was devastated. Even now those number are high.

I hope it's not the same here.

 

[superseohyun]

Im not quite sure, that's a good question.

Here's the link to the topic, for those interested in following:
https://m.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3gr1bh/huge_explosion_reported_in_chinese_port_city_of/

no "local" would know the casualty number or able to predict one....

 

[Walpurgis]

Has China made any statements?

 

[PrivateWHudson]

So that terrible .gif with the clothes, was that the first explosion in this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1aHADL2a24

If so, that looked to be the smaller of the explosions.

 

[cajunator]

There might be a fence (the one that looks like panels being pushed forward), but in front of that, closer to the cameraman is a low slung rope with clothes on it.

Yeah pretty much. Its not a building. It came apart too uniformly. Its a fence and some clotheslines. Now further back near the explosion, that was a building.

 

[shadowkat]

That was the one with the WWI ships colliding? If so I read about it as a kid and it was horrifying. Just the shockwave of these explosions are so damaging that some people's ears popped and their brains turned to jelly while they were sleeping. Windows shattered and glass stabbed people while they were in their rooms and kids on their way to school were completely erased from existence. It happened so fast I don't think they were able to feel anything. I think that explosion was a lot bigger though.


As a fan of dark humour, even I can't find that remotely funny. We just saw a human being's final moments from their perspective. It's haunting.

Yes, that's the one. I don't know which one is bigger I only hope the loss isn't as huge.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

Yeah, Halifax (then and now) is no where near the population density of China. I mention it since is seems to be a similar situation (cargo ship) and Halifax was devastated. Even now those number are high.

I hope it's not the same here.

Yes, that's the one. I don't know which one is bigger I only hope the loss isn't as huge.

I'm hoping to hell that the numbers stay low but my gut feels like its gonna be otherwise. Can't even imagine how people with family and friends in that area must feel right now.

 

[Valkerionseven]

Geeze after seeing the video... that explosion was massive.

 

[Tugatrix]

....at least all those clothes on the washing lines middle front will be dry?

unlike the undercrackers of whoever filmed this

feels bad man but I admit I chuckled

 

[More Fun To Compute]

As a rough comparison I think that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was more than 700 times larger.

 

[NewDust]

Yeah, Halifax (then and now) is no where near the population density of China. I mention it since is seems to be a similar situation (cargo ship) and Halifax was devastated. Even now those number are high.

I hope it's not the same here.

Halifax seems like an apt comparisdon based on the estimated size of the explosion (15t tnt for halifax, 21 for tianjin) and both being in urban areas. I imagine housing conditions have risen drastically, but stacked against it possible highrise buildings... If I hear that residential aera's are starting at a 500 meter range... I'm not gonna speculate...


Edit: euhm sorry guys, misread both my sources for the estimated size of the explosion, halifax was 2900 tons, tianjin 21 tons... Thats quite different.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Holy fuck that was huge .
The shockwave must have also cause some serious damage.

 

[Suikoguy]

Halifax seems like an apt comparisdon based on the estimated size of the explosion (15t tnt for halifax, 21 for tianjin) and both being in urban areas. I imagine housing conditions have risen drastically, but stacked against it possible highrise buildings... If I hear that residential aera's are starting at a 500 meter range... I'm not gonna speculate...

Yeah, I suspect it's much worse than their State Media is letting on, but that's the danger of State Run media.

 

[D_psipher]

So that terrible .gif with the clothes, was that the first explosion in this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1aHADL2a24

If so, that looked to be the smaller of the explosions.

That is insane. Just seeing the fire rain down like that is scary stuff.

 

[Shmeagatory94]

Jesus. I want to say I hope no one got hurt but damn... i don't think that is the case here with that big ass explosion.

 

[Machina]

Chinese media are reporting 13 dead now

http://www.cctv-america.com/2015/08/12/explosion-reported-in-tianjin-china

 

[Kadin]

I just don't understand some of the stats in that reddit post. Saying that no one within 1 km is alive, what is their source on that? Makes reading the rest of it very questionable. I mean, I'm sure it could be that high but a blanket assumption like that just seems very wrong as it has to be too early (at the time it was posted) to know.

They did update saying "(Busted)" but I'm not sure what that means.