Registered: Oct 2002
Location:
Posts: 1288

why is it that they are completely irresponsible to the whole human race and not let anyone know that there is something wrong until its too late? SARS, the bird flu, now chemical spills. i swear the end of the human race will be born in china whatever form it will take because that vile country is full of the filthiest humans on the planet not counting that kid who shampoos with cow piss.

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Main page content:
Thousands flee Chinese danger city
By Geoff Dyer in Harbin and Richard McGregor in Beijing
Published: November 23 2005 19:10 | Last updated: November 23 2005 19:10

china flagThousands of residents of Harbin on Wednesday night jammed its railway station and booked out all available flights as a deadly 80km toxic slick made its way down the Songhua river, threatening to poison the north-eastern Chinese city’s water supplies.

The slick of benzene and other toxins was leaked into the river, the city’s main source of water, after a series of explosions 10 days ago at a chemicals factory 200km upriver.

A mood of distrust and paranoia was spreading through the industrial city of 9m people, sharpened by the local government’s decision to turn off water supplies for four days for fear of an environmental catastrophe.

Trains leaving the city have already sold out until the weekend. All 42 flights from the city’s airport were also full yesterday.

Officials at the railway station and airport said the scenes resembled the crush during the Chinese New Year holiday, when travellers overload the public transport system in order to return home to their families.

The growing unease was fuelled by the clumsy handling of the crisis by the city’s authorities, which at first said the water supply was being closed only for maintenance purposes. The lack of clear information spawned rumours of an imminent earthquake, which triggered panic buying of food and bottled water.

“I am fleeing,” said Pang Shijun, a 50-year-old man among the crowds at the central railway station. He said his wife had already left the night before to go to the nearby city of Jixi. “I just do not trust the government to provide true information on this.”

Only on Wednesday did the state authorities finally give a detailed account of the pollution and risks to the water supply in a city which is famous for its breweries, among other industries.

Anheuser-Busch, the US brewer which has a plant in the city, issued a statement saying the water shutdown had “not significantly affected” its beer production in Harbin.

The company said its brewery was using “100 per cent well water” from deep aquifers to produce its beer, adding that it was supplying Harbin’s citizens with water from its own supplies and making tankers available.

The Harbin crisis has underlined China’s vulnerability to environmental shocks and industrial accidents and heightened concern in Beijing, which has long worried about unrest from environmental catastrophes.

After a series of contradictory statements by the city and PetroChina, the overseas-listed energy giant which runs the plant where the accident occurred, Beijing’s environmental watchdog confirmed the Songhua river had been contaminated.

The State Environment Protection Agency said an 80km stretch of the river had been polluted by benzene, a carcinogen used in the manufacture of plastics, detergents, pesticides and other chemicals. Some sections of the river contained benzene levels more than a 100 times higher than national safety levels.

The accident occurred at a plant adjacent to the river near the city of Jilin. The polluted portion of the river is expected to arrive in Harbin this morning and take about 40 hours to pass by. A city spokesman, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency, said 15 hospitals had been put on standby to deal with cases of poisoning. Schools have been closed until further notice.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a99bb0f0-5...00779e2340.html

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Registered: Jul 2005
Location: different
Posts: 5395

ubi multitudo ibi excrementum

Last edited by PNG on 11-24-2005 at 01:36 AM

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Registered: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 16760

Oh, hell. Not a really big deal. It is not like the river caught fire and damaged the bridges, as the Cuyahoga did on a number of occasions, most famously in June of 1969. Industrial chemical plants leak. It is an unavoidable fact of life. They also suffer serious accidents. Get used to it.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13494

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Originally posted by GimpyDivo
why is it that they are completely irresponsible to the whole human race and not let anyone know that there is something wrong until its too late?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Boston, MA, Center of the Universe
Posts: 4538

Explain the US and W.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13494

quote:

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Originally posted by Cage
Explain the US and W.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Disgusting den of creepitude
Posts: 10840

China has to many people. Just a modern way of thinning 'um out. Culling the herd, if you will.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Shreveport, LA
Posts: 3840

wars work better if that's your goal.

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Registered: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 16760

Bullshit. Wars spur population growth. Wanna shrink the population? Make everybody comfortably well off with lots of alternative leisure activities.

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Registered: Jan 2003
Location: mediocre apartment
Posts: 2653

Like Japan!

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