448:. The media has focused mostly on Harbin, with almost no information on the slick's effect on cities and counties in Jilin province. Heilongjiang responded to the crisis a full week after the explosions occurred—their initial announcement attributed the impending shutoff to "maintenance", and gave only a day's notice; it was the second announcement on the next day that clarified the reason for the shutoff and postponed the shutoff. In response, Vice Governor
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bathhouses and carwashes to close. At the same time as the enigmatic announcement, rumours ran wild about the possible cause of the shutoff, with some suggesting that an earthquake was imminent (causing some people to camp outdoors) and others claiming that terrorists had poisoned the city's water supply. The news of the shutoff caused
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The slick itself reached Harbin before dawn on
November 24. On that day, the nitrobenzene level at Harbin was recorded at 16.87 times above the national safety level, while the benzene level was increasing, but had not yet exceeded national safety level. The nitrobenzene level doubled on November 25
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Later on the same day, the city government issued another announcement, this time explicitly mentioning the Jilin explosions as the reason for the shutoff. The four-day shutoff was postponed to midnight on
November 24. From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on November 23, the city temporarily restored the
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have visited Harbin and expressed their apologies to the city. On 6 December, the vice-mayor of Jilin, Wang Wei, was found dead in his home. This followed a threat by the
Chinese government to severely punish anyone who had covered up the severity of the accident. The threat applied only to the
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from all over the country to Harbin. The government of Harbin also ordered the price of drinking water to be frozen at the level of
November 20, in order to combat overpricing. In addition, Harbin is boring ninety-five more deep-water wells, to complement the existing 918 deep-water wells in the
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On
November 21, the city government of Harbin announced that water supplies would be shut off at noon November 22 for four days for maintenance. Some residents of Harbin have complained that water in some parts of the city had been shut off much earlier than announced. The city also ordered all
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water supply to allow residents to stock up on water, since the slick had not yet reached the city. In the afternoon of the same day, schools in Harbin were closed for one week. Also on
November 23, Harbin residents began to receive water from fire trucks, and began voluntary evacuation.
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of water, beverages, and foodstuffs in the city's supermarkets, while train tickets and flights out of the area were soon sold out. Meanwhile, dead fish were appearing along the banks of the
Songhua upstream from Harbin, further compounding the fears of Harbin residents.
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equipment. T-102 tower was jammed up and was not handled properly. The blasts were so powerful that they shattered windows at least 100 to 200 meters away; at least 70 people were injured and six were killed. The
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four to five days later. In readiness, a communications hotline had been set up between
Chinese and Russian agencies, and China offered water testing and purifying materials, including 1,000 tons of
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444:, which runs the plant that suffered the explosions, initially denied that the explosion could have leaked any pollutants into the Songhua River, saying that it produced only water and
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305:(0.5805 mg/L), 33.15 times the national safety level, and began to decrease. The benzene level stayed under national safety level. At the same time, the tail of the slick left
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An 80 km long toxic slick drifted down the Amur River, and the benzene level recorded was at one point 108 times above national safety levels. The slick passed first on the
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were finally put out early in the morning of
November 14. Over 10,000 people were evacuated from the area, including local residents and students at the north campus of
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province and one of China's largest cities, being one of the first places to be affected. After traversing the eastern half of
Heilongjiang including the city of
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In response to the crisis, trucks transported tens of thousands of metric tons of water from surrounding cities, and thousands of tons of
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to Russia. Khabarovsk planned to shut off its water supply in "extreme circumstances", prompting residents to stock up on water.
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The municipal government asked hotels and restaurants in the city to provide rooms for the evacuated people.
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The cause of the blasts was initially determined two days after the blast: the accident site is a
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visited Harbin on November 26 to inspect the current situation, including the status of
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It is reported that the entry of several tributaries into the Songhua, such as the
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Harbin was not the only city to be affected. The slick passed through the city of
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The Chinese press were critical of the authorities' response to the disaster.
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initial explosion and not the extended cover-up of the benzene slick.
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Water supply in Harbin was resumed in the evening of November 27.
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began to increase their discharge flow. On November 15,
513:"Chemical plant explosion in China: one confirmed dead"
647:"Environmental chief sacked following major pollution"
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entering into the river. Exposure to benzene reduces
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101:Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology
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889:2005 Jilin chemical plant explosions
802:China National Petroleum Corporation
501:. People's Daily Online. 2005-11-15.
456:province and Deputy General Manager
728:"Toxic leak threat to Chinese city"
707:"Chinese toxic blast official dead"
74:of tens of thousands of residents.
16:Industrial incident in Jilin, China
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605:"Toxic leak reaches Russian river"
565:. 13 November 2005. Archived from
519:. 14 November 2005. Archived from
389:After exiting the Amur River, the
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689:"Pollution worries China's press"
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991:November 2005 events in China
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655:. 2005-12-02. Archived from
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996:Man-made disasters in China
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166:count and is linked to
146:The explosion severely
899:Xingang Port oil spill
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757:43.88528°N 126.60444°E
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205:at the mouth of the
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762:43.88528; 126.60444
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213:. It passed by the
56:Petrochemical Plant
971:Disasters in Jilin
936:Explosions in 2005
713:. 7 December 2005.
652:Xinhua News Agency
628:Xinhua News Agency
586:Xinhua News Agency
540:Xinhua News Agency
480:Pollution in China
421:Political fall-out
385:Maritime pollution
332:and water supply.
231:Komsomolsk-on-Amur
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235:Strait of Tartary
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50:were a series of
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748:126°36′16″E
458:Zeng Yukang
426:Xie Zhenhua
356:Mudan River
352:Hulan River
941:Jilin City
930:Categories
868:PetroChina
745:43°53′07″N
486:References
375:Khabarovsk
371:Amur River
322:Wen Jiabao
263:hydropower
227:Khabarovsk
203:Amur River
78:Explosions
72:evacuation
66:Province,
60:Jilin City
52:explosions
40:Jilin City
873:CNPC (HK)
840:Locations
436:Criticism
415:littorals
109:chemicals
86:unit for
84:nitration
711:BBC News
693:BBC News
675:BBC News
609:BBC News
469:See also
401:and the
354:and the
307:Zhaoyuan
271:Songyuan
241:and the
183:Songyuan
168:leukemia
148:polluted
113:The CNPC
345:Jiamusi
324:of the
319:Premier
221:in the
207:Songhua
199:Jiamusi
189:, with
156:benzene
88:aniline
882:Events
809:People
563:Forbes
517:Pravda
311:Daqing
286:Harbin
211:Russia
191:Harbin
454:Jilin
411:Korea
407:Japan
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462:CNPC
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