Beijing (CNN)A massive explosion shook the northern Chinese city of Tianjin late Wednesday, killing 13 and injuring nearly 260 people, according to officials and state media.
The cause was not immediately clear.
The explosion erupted at a warehouse for a logistics company at a port area, according to Tianjin police. The company was identified as Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Ltd.
The state-run Xinhua news agency reported the explosion tore through a warehouse storing "dangerous goods" in the Binhai New Area.
The initial blast triggered secondary explosions, setting off local tremors, according to Xinhua. Residents said the blast shattered windows and fish tanks.
The People's Daily reported that 13 people had died, 11 were in critical condition and another 248 were hospitalized. Xinhua had reported earlier that most of the injuries were from stones or broken glass.
The firefighting division of the Chinese Public Security Ministry reported that firefighters were first called to the scene about a fire. The explosion happened after they arrived and damaged buildings and infrastructure. Four firefighters were injured and two more have lost contact, the ministry said.
When I was a kid, a chemical factory in the next town over exploded. Only a few people died and a few more hurt, because there weren't many people at work there at the time. However, I doubt that explosion is bigger, just in a more crowded area.
So the answer to "what can cause an explosion that big?" a chemical factory can. Seeing as that was in the port, it was probably something to do with flammable chemicals being on/offloaded and then going horribly wrong. Or fertilizer. A cargo ship full of ammonium nitrate could go boom quite spectacularly.
It still amazes me that people are constantly surprised by the degree of destructive power packed near urban centers, when in reality modern life requires so much chemical and electrical power just to sustain that we are transporting millions of tonnes of oil, natural gas, compressed gas, fertilizers, and other combustible / oxidizing material through every urban center on a daily basis. The fact that we don't have explosions every day is already a testament to engineering and extraordinary coincidence.
It sounds like a horrible situation, hope everyone here is ok.
BTW it sounds like it was a chain of fires/explosions that led to a chemical factory exploding.
Also, prepare to have been / continue to be lied to about the number of casualties. Where does a number like 7 or 13 that I read about come from. Have you guys seen pictures of the aftermath? It's really, really bad.
On August 13 2015 08:10 whatisthisasheep wrote: Could that big of explosion trigger an earthquake or Tidal Wave? I saw it was strong enough to give off a big shockwave.
No not even close.
a modest magnitude 5 earthquake has an energy of 2.0 Terajoules, 480 tonnes of TNT, or a 0.48 megaton nuclear device. The atomic bomb used on Hiroshima was 16 kilotons and the one dropped on Nagasaki was 21 kilotons.
So yeah, nature is far more powerful than whatever weak bombs we ever conceived. What we did manage is to concentrate relatively a lot of power in a small volume
Details from the locals sharing in weibo, Gas station exploded -> ignited two oil tanks nearby the chemical warehouse -> chemical exploded, the firefighters failed to put it out and a series of explosions triggered by the chemicals in the container terminal, all firefighters/police, people who watching nearby die on scene instantly. Chemicals: Compressed and liquefied gases (argon, compressed natural gas); flammable liquid (methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetate); flammable materials(sulfur, nitrocellulose, calcium carbide, calcium alloy); oxidizers and organic peroxides (potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, etc.); toxic chemicals (sodium cyanide, toluene diisocyanate) The fact that chemical is concentrated in that area, people panic and concerns the releasing of toxic gases after the explosion, many evacuating caused road jam. People from 10km away can feel the shockwave, windows shattered. The Donghai Road station is destroyed. Hospitals are overloaded with patients. They said no one is alive within 1 km of the explosion(Busted), the explosions happened in tanggu district which is close to residential area.(550meters away), at least three estates in that area. The total population of Binhai is 2.5 millions and the population density in the area is expected 2000/kmsq, expected injuries/casualties will be around 7000~70000. There were two explosions, the first one is equals to 3 tons of TNT and the second one is 21 tons.
The real death count will be huge. Several hundred imo... I saw some vids, one where a guy is behind a wooden fence before the big explosion... Damn that was surreal.
One guy on Reddit said his company would probably bankrupt because they lost over 20M in goods.
That's really terrifying.
I read that the explosion was at around 20 KTon of TNT. It's huge if it was true, I show some comparison on atomic test and it seems plausible too. FIY Hiroshima was 16 KTon...
On August 13 2015 08:22 PhoenixVoid wrote: Unfortunate incident for all.
Details from the locals sharing in weibo, Gas station exploded -> ignited two oil tanks nearby the chemical warehouse -> chemical exploded, the firefighters failed to put it out and a series of explosions triggered by the chemicals in the container terminal, all firefighters/police, people who watching nearby die on scene instantly. Chemicals: Compressed and liquefied gases (argon, compressed natural gas); flammable liquid (methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetate); flammable materials(sulfur, nitrocellulose, calcium carbide, calcium alloy); oxidizers and organic peroxides (potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, etc.); toxic chemicals (sodium cyanide, toluene diisocyanate) The fact that chemical is concentrated in that area, people panic and concerns the releasing of toxic gases after the explosion, many evacuating caused road jam. People from 10km away can feel the shockwave, windows shattered. The Donghai Road station is destroyed. Hospitals are overloaded with patients. They said no one is alive within 1 km of the explosion(Busted), the explosions happened in tanggu district which is close to residential area.(550meters away), at least three estates in that area. The total population of Binhai is 2.5 millions and the population density in the area is expected 2000/kmsq, expected injuries/casualties will be around 7000~70000. There were two explosions, the first one is equals to 3 tons of TNT and the second one is 21 tons.
Not everything is true in the first post. There is no source for the 7000-70000 casualties. and only 21 ton of TNT is impossible, that's wayy too low. Halifax was 2.9 Kton