Massive Explosion Reported in Chinese city - See mod note in OP

12-08-2015 08:19PM

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Its not likely tbh.....

as a comparative, the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima had a total fatality radius of the same..... 1km

Casualties wont be anything like 7,000 - 70,000

Honestly, it's hard to tell. The shockwaves have been reported as being felt up to 10K away. That kind of force, a KM away from the explosion ... I really hope it isn't true.

nokia69 · 12-08-2015 08:19PM

Note:

This video shows CCTV footage of the explosion and someone dying. You may find it very distressing.

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

Gooners · 12-08-2015 08:19PM

Thirdfox wrote: »

My grandparents-in-law live in Tianjin - trying to find out if they're ok so would appreciate it if jokes were kept to a minimum, thanks.

Agree with you jokes in very bad taste. Hope your news will be good.

steddyeddy · 12-08-2015 08:20PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Not necessarily, explosions of that magnitude happen all over the world. I recall ones in Quebec, Texas, and Cyprus in the last couple of years. It's the high nearby population density that will probably make this one more serious.

Yes not necessarily but Chinese industry's safety record is particular bad.

kneemos · 12-08-2015 08:23PM

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Its not likely tbh.....

as a comparative, the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima had a total fatality radius of the same..... 1km

Casualties wont be anything like 7,000 - 70,000

(eg: The hiroshima bomb in Dublin)
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=15&lat=53.3498053&lng=-6.2603097&airburst=0&hob_ft=0&zm=14

Don't they all live in shoe boxes in extremely high density?

Spanish Eyes · 12-08-2015 08:23PM

God what an awful thing to happen.

And I went to Tianjin from Beijing on the "bullet train" That is so weird.

The aftermath of this cannot be good.

Awful stuff.

Aimead · 12-08-2015 08:26PM

Tianjin is one of the special economic zones, which in pratice means a hell of lot manufacturing and processing plants compressed into the hinterland of the port area. Lots of chemical plants there too which means there may have been some seriously nasty stuff that caught fire and caused the explosion. From the clips it looks like something more than a crude oil or petrol explosion – something seriously pressurised and went off hard.

That video of the security camera is fecking frightening. I can't see a low causuality rate on this one, sadly.

12-08-2015 08:27PM

Thirdfox wrote: »

My grandparents-in-law live in Tianjin - trying to find out if they're ok so would appreciate it if jokes were kept to a minimum, thanks.

edit: suffice it to say - hopefully those casualty figures estimated on Reddit are completely wrong, seems like the explosion took place in the port area and away from residential areas.

edit2: this is what the official Chinese papers say (for those who trust them):
http://www.cctv-america.com/2015/08/12/explosion-reported-in-tianjin-china
China’s People’s Daily newspaper has reported that 50 people being currently being treated at Teda Hospital in Tianjin. No deaths have been reported so far. The number of wounded are increasing.

The National Business Daily newspaper also reported that two firefighters battling the blaze are missing and six are slightly wounded. Six fire brigades are on the scene and the fire is nearly out. The newspaper also reported that 300-400 people are wounded. CCTV News has also reported that the fire will take more than two hours to be completely extinguished.

Read more: http://www.cctv-america.com/2015/08/12/explosion-reported-in-tianjin-china#ixzz3id89n3Nc
Watch us live anywhere at http://www.cctvamericalive.com
Follow us: @cctv_america on Twitter | CCTVAmerica on Facebook

I'm sure it isn't true - I'm still checking and there doesn't appear to be any links to back it up yet.

Really hope you and your partner make contact with their grandparents.

Harry Palmr · 12-08-2015 08:27PM

Just looking at CCTV now but nothing since I put it on.

Al Jezza are trying to cover it - comms break down with correspondent

BoJack Horseman · 12-08-2015 08:31PM

kneemos wrote: »

Don't they all live in shoe boxes in extremely high density?

well, no, not always.

This city is very spread out & its density is lower than Dublin.

I dont know where the petroleum facility was, but looking at google maps, The port has a lot of these storage buildings & if the explosion was there, it doesnt look like there was much residential buildings near by, but it does look like a massive & likely very busy area nonetheless

thomil · 12-08-2015 08:31PM

kneemos wrote: »

Don't they all live in shoe boxes in extremely high density?

Not necessarily, although those tower blocks in the videos are most likely apartments, and they are just about two kilometres away from the likely epicentre of the explosion in the port of Tianjin. That port, from what I can see on Google Earth, Apple Maps, etc. is a purely industrial area, there are no residences interspersed in there, like you'd have in the port of Hamburg for example. Still, given the size of that fireball, which to my untrained eye looks to be about 300-400 meters high, and the force of the explosion, I'd be surprised if there were not fatalities in those tower blocks, unfortunately.

Peregrine · 12-08-2015 08:32PM

nokia69 wrote: »

I know they like their fireworks, but thats a bit much IMO

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Proper fireworks there, none of your Moore Street rubbish...

Mod: Jokes such as this will not tolerated. I've added a note in the OP.

Spanish Eyes · 12-08-2015 08:34PM

Sky News strap saying 300 injured.

I hope that is all. I would be very surprised if that's the final figure sadly. Hope I am wrong.

12-08-2015 08:35PM

Breakdown of the numbers (as of a while ago)

https://twitter.com/MSimonTV/status/631529667699318784

Some (somewhat NSFW) photos from the explosion

https://twitter.com/thelastnext/status/631509402961358848

Apartment close to where it happened

https://twitter.com/thelastnext/status/631514796450430976

justchecked · 12-08-2015 08:36PM

https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B002'05.7%22N+117%C2%B044'34.2%22E/@39.0484156,117.7382893,2442m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

The Backwards Man · 12-08-2015 08:39PM

thomil wrote: »

Not necessarily, although those tower blocks in the videos are most likely apartments, and they are just about two kilometres away from the likely epicentre of the explosion in the port of Tianjin. That port, from what I can see on Google Earth, Apple Maps, etc. is a purely industrial area, there are no residences interspersed in there, like you'd have in the port of Hamburg for example. Still, given the size of that fireball, which to my untrained eye looks to be about 300-400 meters high, and the force of the explosion, I'd be surprised if there were not fatalities in those tower blocks, unfortunately.

All the tanks seem to be on that artificial island, if it was petroleum blast, so hopefully that will have created a buffer zone of sorts.

Atlantic Dawn · 12-08-2015 08:54PM

Peregrine wrote: »

Mod: Jokes such as this will not tolerated. I've added a note in the OP.

Apologies, at the time of my post I switched on Sky News, BBC News and RT, neither were even running the story, I presumed it was just a large blast with no injuries, looks now like massive death toll

Boring username · 12-08-2015 08:56PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Just watched that. The other person surely died too.

From Reddit -

No link to back it up yet, but plausible.

Everybody dead in a 1KM radius. In a country as densely populated as China. The figure of 7000 - 70000 is.. mindnumbing.

I would take that with a very big pinch of salt. Everything dead within a 1KM radius would be getting into the kiloton range i.e. thousands of tonnes of high explosives/small nuclear yield.

Reckless Abandonment · 12-08-2015 08:57PM

Even the two Chinese news stations on sky aren't saying much make that nothing

scrimshanker · 12-08-2015 08:58PM

God help them

It must be horrific for anyone who was near. Hopefully the reports of chemical storage units being engulfed into the fire are untrue.

12-08-2015 09:02PM

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Its not likely tbh.....

as a comparative, the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima had a total fatality radius of the same..... 1km

Casualties wont be anything like 7,000 - 70,000

(eg: The hiroshima bomb in Dublin)
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=15&lat=53.3498053&lng=-6.2603097&airburst=0&hob_ft=0&zm=14

I've actually been thinking about this now and it is somewhat plausible that the number of casualties could be that high. I'm not massively familiar with the population density in Japan during WW2, but there's no way that it would have been anywhere near as high in Hiroshima as a city in modern day China. Even if it killed or injured people within a few hundred feet, there's apartment buildings very close to there ...

The Black Oil · 12-08-2015 09:02PM

The sound of the explosion is incredible.

gazzer · 12-08-2015 09:10PM

300 injured according to RTE News

thomil · 12-08-2015 09:11PM

Boring username wrote: »

I would take that with a very big pinch of salt. Everything dead within a 1KM radius would be getting into the kiloton range i.e. thousands of tonnes of high explosives/small nuclear yield.

It's not unknown for non-nuclear explosions to reach into the kiloton range, just think of the Halifax Explosion back in 1917. That was about 2.9 kilotons. If this is really a secondary explosion triggered by an oil tank explosion, then I'd say it's very likely that we're talking about being in the low kiloton range.

Another thing to consider. If this explosion is entered around the oil terminal, any explosion of that size will probably sink or damage any ships moored nearby, and set fire to the bulk cargo area "next door". From Google Maps, that bulk cargo area looks like it's mainly used for transporting coal, and once those catch fire, extinguishing them could turn out to be a real pain. I hope I'm just being overly pessimistic though.

kneemos · 12-08-2015 09:11PM

gazzer wrote: »

300 injured according to RTE News

RTE barely know what day it is.

Bless em.

12-08-2015 09:12PM

Apparently it was picked up by the mid-infrared detector of the new Japanese Himawari 8 weather satellite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfgS3C7PblA

If true, it means it was big enough to be picked up by a satellite 22 thousand miles away in geosynchronous orbit.

Red Kev · 12-08-2015 09:15PM

People near the blast will be killed by the blast and shock wave. It's a working port so a lot of people will still be around at night.

Anyone near it is at risk from flying debris.

Most residents would be at home or in bed which means less deaths than if it happened during the day.

Most of the force of the blast goes upwards and dissipates quickly but it's still a huge size.

Hard to say how many are dead or how many small fires have broken out around the city, could be very high but the night time blast has undoubtedly saved many lives compared to a daytime one.

12-08-2015 09:17PM

A friend is living not too far from there, he's ok but he said it was surreal and the shockwave was as powerful as an earthquake. He wasn't expecting it after seeing the explosion. The whole city is in panic. Told me it came from the direction of Binhai which is dense industrial with some high rise apartments nearby.

12-08-2015 09:18PM

Red Kev wrote: »

People near the blast will be killed by the blast and shock wave. It's a working port so a lot of people will still be around at night.

Most residents would be at home or in bed which means less deaths than if it happened during the day.

Most of the force of the blast goes upwards and dissipates quickly but it's still a huge size.

Hard to say how many are dead or how many small fires have broken out around the city, could be very high but the night time blast has undoubtedly saved many lives compared to a daytime one.

We're likely to see the majority of firemen and other emergency personnel who were at the scene plus any potential onlookers there might have been (and chances are that there would have been a lot of them) would have been all killed if they were anywhere near close.

That's still a pretty substantial deathtoll from that alone...

circadian wrote: »

A friend is living not too far from there, he's ok but he said it was surreal and the shockwave was as powerful as an earthquake. He wasn't expecting it after seeing the explosion. The whole city is in panic. Told me it came from the direction of Binhai which is dense industrial with some high rise apartments nearby.

Seemingly residents of the city are concerned that the hazardous chemicals that would have been stored there could have gone into the air.

thomil · 12-08-2015 09:21PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Apparently it was picked up by the mid-infrared detector of the new Japanese Himawari 8 weather satellite.

If true, it means it was big enough to be picked up by a satellite 22 thousand miles away in geosynchronous orbit.

Im sceptical about that.the position on that map doesn't appear to tally with any of the port terminals handling petroleum products, or with the container terminal that Xinhua, the Chinese news agency ist claiming to be the epicentre of the explosion.

Massive Explosion Reported in Chinese city - See mod note in OP

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