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Massive explosion in Tianjin, China (Update: at least 44 dead, 500+ injured)

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G

goldsoundz

Member
That must not be a densely populated area. How an explosion like that doesn't kill hundreds of people makes no sense at all to me, and hopefully that doesn't turn out to be the case.
 
Darkangel

Darkangel

Member
Word on the internet is that the explosion might have wiped out or damaged China's second fastest super computer. The National Supercomputing Center of Tianjin was right beside the explosion site and their website is currently down:

http://nscc-tj.gov.cn/en/index.asp

X1Ffwt3.jpg
Click to expand...
 
J

jl4855

Member
goldsoundz said:
That must not be a densely populated area. How an explosion like that doesn't kill hundreds of people makes no sense at all to me, and hopefully that doesn't turn out to be the case.
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I was there last year, it's literally all these massive containers that are packed together.. There are residential complexes fairly close by and they definitely would have felt the blast.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I REALLY hope whatever was being kept in their isn't something that might bring about other health problems due to air pollution.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Hexa said:
Why do the explosions keep happening after such a long delay? I don't understand.
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Probably storage vaults of some type, and the fire takes time to get to them.

Which may actually say a lot about whatever they store there, given that the bunkers can withstand these explosions for a time.
 
W

Wookieomg

Member
holy fuck i just heard about everything that happened today.. this is so terrible. and explosions are still happening? have we gotten official word on what caused the explosions or is the chinese gov't staying tight-lipped?

i truly hope people can get to shelter and avoid any more danger.. this is some terrifying shit.
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
In a large populated area this can't be good :(. And holy fuck watched most of the footage posted so far. That explosion is absolutely terrifying, especially that massive shockwave.
 
F

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Im surprised by how slow the sound/shockwave took to get to them, and they seem pretty close to it relatively speaking.
 
T

The Lamp

Member
Hexa said:
Why do the explosions keep happening after such a long delay? I don't understand.
Click to expand...

I don't think China's chemical industry has very good emergency/safety protocol for things like this.

Things will continue to explode so long as there is fuel source in the area and they can't contain the emergency.
 
J

joe2187

Banned
I dont believe those casualty reports at all. The number has to be higher.

Chinese media probably censoring the real numbers.
 
M

marrec

Banned
The video above does not depict a third explosion at Tianjin, it's from a separate incident in July.

Though more explosions wouldn't be out of the ordinary for these types of disasters as tanks can take awhile to build up enough pressure to finally rupture.
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
And the clickbait/misinformation commences.

Internet age really needs to sort itself out. :|
 
B

Burt

Member
joe2187 said:
I dont believe those casualty reports at all. The number has to be higher.

Chinese media probably censoring the real numbers.
Click to expand...

China doesn't really censor numbers for stuff like this too much nowadays. Yeah, they hid it in the past and still shove their own personal doings under the carpet, but they tend to be straightforward with modern accidents and natural disasters. They didn't hide 70,000+ deaths from the 2008 earthquake, and a better comparison for this would probably be the Wenzhou train crash that killed a couple dozen people which they were, by every account I've seen, open about.

If anything, I feel like they seize these kinds of opportunities to garner public support by responding with overwhelming force and dishing out swift, harsh punishment to whoever they can pin fault on.
 
S

Silphonica

Banned
DrForester said:
I REALLY hope whatever was being kept in their isn't something that might bring about other health problems due to air pollution.
Click to expand...

From what I gather it's a chemical explsion. Many people have reported vomiting, animals dead not from the explosion. Initial rescue efforts involved helping the people, rather than putting out the fire to let all the chemical burn out, winds and fire are likely to cause more explosions. I read this in a report.

The China Earthquake Networks Center reported that the first explosion had a 2.3 degree magnitude (equivalent to 3 tons of TNT), and the second had a 2.9 degree magnitude (equivalent to 21 tons of TNT).
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many people fleeing homes scared of an earthquake as a result from the explosions, but I don't know how scientifically accurate that is to actually happen.
 
N

NihonTiger90

Member
joe2187 said:
I dont believe those casualty reports at all. The number has to be higher.

Chinese media probably censoring the real numbers.
Click to expand...

It probably is, but the problem is that many who died ... well, it might be hard to find anything left of them right now. It sounds morbid, but the numbers are low likely because 1.) these are deaths they can verify have happened and 2.) they're still searching the blast area, which is large and filled with rubble. I expect the numbers will go up over time, but there's no reason for them to say 1,000 people have been killed when the number may not be that high. That's irresponsible.
 
K

KDR_11k

Member
I doubt they're censoring the casualty counts, they just don't know the real number yet.

foxuzamaki said:
Im surprised by how slow the sound/shockwave took to get to them, and they seem pretty close to it relatively speaking.
Click to expand...

Sound only travels at 333m/s so even at only 1km distance (which seems like it'd still be dangerously close to this particular blast) it'd take 3 seconds for the blast wave to reach you.
 
B

Burt

Member
Burt said:
China doesn't really censor numbers for stuff like this too much nowadays. Yeah, they hid it in the past and still shove their own personal doings under the carpet, but they tend to be straightforward with modern accidents and natural disasters. They didn't hide 70,000+ deaths from the 2008 earthquake, and a better comparison for this would probably be the Wenzhou train crash that killed a couple dozen people which they were, by every account I've seen, open about.

If anything, I feel like they seize these kinds of opportunities to garner public support by responding with overwhelming force and dishing out swift, harsh punishment to whoever they can pin fault on.
Click to expand...

Just to double down on this, from the Guardian coverage


  • President Xi Jinping and premier Li Keqiang “have urged all-out efforts to save the injured and minimise casualties in the Tianjin blast”, state media says.
  • State media also reports that the owners of the factory at the centre of the blasts – named as Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Ltd – have been detained.
  • Tianjin, the port gateway to Beijing, is a major base for petrochemicals, refining and other industries.
  • Factories in the port city have been told not to open until they have been checked for safety.
Click to expand...

Token safety checks and government grandstanding in progress. Note the lack of charges before detaining the owners of the factory. I wouldn't be surprised if they were executed, and I would be surprised if they didn't spend the better part of the rest of their lives in jail. I remember when I was over there they executed some guys for owning a company that sold pigs that got people sick, as far as I could tell.

Anyway, not sure which system I prefer, malicious corporate criminals walking free in America or the tendency to go all in on them when they actually get caught in China.
 
T

TearsOfBlood

Member
Burt said:
China doesn't really censor numbers for stuff like this too much nowadays. Yeah, they hid it in the past and still shove their own personal doings under the carpet, but they tend to be straightforward with modern accidents and natural disasters. They didn't hide 70,000+ deaths from the 2008 earthquake, and a better comparison for this would probably be the Wenzhou train crash that killed a couple dozen people which they were, by every account I've seen, open about.

If anything, I feel like they seize these kinds of opportunities to garner public support by responding with overwhelming force and dishing out swift, harsh punishment to whoever they can pin fault on.
Click to expand...

You do realize they tried to bury the trains in the Wenzhou train crash to cover the whole thing up?
After this was discovered the backlash on the internet was big, which the Party promptly decided to delete any trace of. You can probably still find news articles with 10.000+ comments on the comment tracker, yet when you try to look at them, you can find 100+ at most.

To be fair, this was under Hu Jintao. Its going to be interesting to see how Xi deals with this. The empty rhetoric is still just what it is though, empty until actual actions are taken.
 
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