We are reminded today just how dangerous the chemical industry can be. On August 12th around 23:30 local time the Tianjin Port International Center experienced two devastating explosions. The explosions occurred at the Ruihai facility, which was designed to store chemicals including butanone, sodium cyanide and compressed natural gas.
According to The China Earthquake Network Centre the initial explosion had power equivalent to three tons of TNT detonating. The following explosion was equivalent to 21 tons, which measured at a magnitude of 2.9 on the Richter scale.
“China Explosions: What We Know about What Happened in Tianjin. Digital image. BBC News. BBC News, 13 Aug. 2015. Web.
Two of LDARtools’ customers have been conducting LDAR work in the Tianjin region for the past couple months. This morning LDARtools made contact with both of them. We are happy to report they are safe and sound.
“I heard what I thought was a sonic boom or something” reported the customer who was luckily twenty miles away from the blast. BBC News reported that large shipping containers were tossed into the air like matchsticks and buildings within a 2km radius (1.5 miles) had windows blown out.
Jacobs, Andrew. Tianjin, a Port in China, Is Rocked by Explosions That Killed Dozens.Digital image. New York Times. 12 Aug. 15.
As of this morning there are many different reports regarding injuries and casualties. BBC News and New York Times report that at least 50 people have been killed and more than 700 have been injured. There are also many people still missing.
“It was terrible in the port area, the numbers are climbing. The problem is there was an apartment complex fairly close to the building that exploded and it basically destroyed the building and many people were hurt. I am very grateful we are not staying in that area”, LDARtools customer and friend.
For More Information:
“China explosions: What we know about what happened in Tianjin” – BBC News (BBC News)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33844084
“Deadly Explosions Hit China’s Port of Tianjin” – (The New York Times)
By: Jacobs, Andrew, and Yufan Huang.
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