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August 21, 2015

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Official responds to residents’ demands

WORKERS in protective suits yesterday began clearing debris that included charred car bodies and crumpled shipping containers from the site of last week’s chemical warehouse blast in Tianjin.

At least 114 people were killed in the disaster at the northern port.

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 People’s Liberation Army Daily newspaper reported.

Training in the handling of such materials and in executing emergency response plans will also be stepped up.

Driving home the importance of such efforts, President Xi Jinping and other top leaders gathered in Beijing to hear a report on the ongoing investigation.

“Lately, in some places there have been major industrial safety accidents, one after another, 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 lives and property,” the statement said.

Corruption was added as a contributory cause of the August 12 disaster following revelations that the son of a former police chief, one of two silent owners of the warehouse, used his connections to help obtain licenses despite safety violations.

The other owner, a former executive at a state-owned chemical company, also used his connections to smooth the way for approval for the facility run by Ruihai International Logistics, Xinhua news agency reported.

The explosions 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 people either dead or missing. Authorities say almost 700 people remain in hospital, while 30,000 people have had their lives turned upside down by the disaster.

A key question is why the warehouse was able to store toxic chemicals, including sodium cyanide, ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate, even though it was located less than the required 1,000 meters from homes and public roads — a clear violation of state safety rules.

One explanation offered by the owners, 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 taken into custody, including top officials of the warehouse’s management company.

The State Council has pledged that its investigation will find the cause of the blast, assign responsibility and recommend suitable punishments.

The Tianjin government said on Wednesday that it would conduct third-party assessments to determine whether to buy back some of the estimated 17,000 apartments damaged by the blasts, after hundreds of local residents demanded it either provide compensation or buy back their damaged or destroyed properties.

“Apartments that should be torn down will be torn down, apartments that need to be rebuilt will be rebuilt, apartments that need to be repurchased will be repurchased,” said Vice Mayor Zong Guoying. The local government also said it would relocate chemical plants away from the area.

Also on Wednesday, after days without a statement, Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo appeared at a news conference to say he would take ultimate responsibility for the disaster.

The head of the central government body in charge of industrial safety, Yang Dongliang, has been placed under investigation for corruption. Yang had previously worked for 18 years in Tianjin in state industry and local government, rising to executive vice mayor. His son has also reportedly been taken in for questioning.




 

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