Persons at Fault?
Who was Impacted?
- Worker carelessness
- Lack of response by central and regional state authorities
- failed to notify the public until the toxins reached Harbin, China
- 6 total deaths from explosion
- Over 70 injured
- 10,000 temporarily evacuated
Cleanup/Response?
- Factory officials and local government officials attempted to manage the spill themselves without notifying Beijing
- Drain reservoir water into the Songhua in an attempt to dilute contaminants.
- City officials shut down municipal water systems from river
- Mass evacuations
- Government threatened to punish anyone who attempted cover up incident
Damage Report
Regulations
- Pollution destroyed ecosystems and ruined fresh water resources
- 70% of fresh water in China is polluted
- No rules have been applied
- Global environmental organizations keep check on all chemical plants in China
- Now use media to get out pertinate information
What was it?
Bibliography
Jilin Song
- November 13, 2005 at 1:45 p.m.
- Petrochemical plant explosion
- Jilin Province, China
- Resulted in over 100 tons of toxins to be spilled into the Songhua River
- Officials denied pollution
- N.A. "Northeast Cleans Up After Chemical Blast." Asia Times, 30 November 2005. Web. 5 November 2015.
- N.A. "The Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions and SOnghua River Pollution Incident, China." Environmental Justice Atlas. University of Oxford, 2 May 2015. Web. 5 November 2015
- Chan, John. "Chemical Spill Pollutes Water Supply in North-Eastern China." World Socialist Web Site, 1 December 2005. Web. 5 November 2015
- Chen, Junyu and Wang, Jing and Cui, Xiaohuo. "Explosions, Corruption, and Floods: How China' Chemical Plants Became a National Danger." News China, October 2010. Web. 5 November 2015
- Wu, Yong and He, Na. "Cause of Jilin Chemical Plant Blasts Found." China Daily. 15 November 2005. Web. 5 November 2015
Effects on Songhua River
- Toxins included Benzene, Aniline, and Nitrobenzene
- Contaminated many rivers that branch off
- Largest Transboundary Spill
Cause
If pollution continued in the river, it would have affected Russia
- Clog in processing tower of Benzene sector
- carelessness of worker trying to unclog it
- Benezene- toxic chemical, known to cause cancer
- odorless,colorless, gas form
- breaks down into carbon dioxide and water when burned
Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions