TIANJIN, China -- China's government ordered a nationwide check of workplace safety Monday, five days after explosions at a warehouse in the port city of Tianjin killed at least 114 people.
The directive from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology lamented the frequency of fatal workplace accidents and demanded a thorough inspection of all safety risks.
The ministry ordered government authorities at all levels to check whether companies within their jurisdictions that produce and store hazardous materials comply with safety regulations, including whether they are a safe distance from residential areas and do not exceed storage limits.
"We must thoroughly investigate [the accident] and hold accountable all those responsible," state media quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying. "We must give an answer for families of the victims, an answer for all residents of Tianjin, an answer for all Chinese people and an answer for history."
Wednesday's blasts originated at a warehouse for hazardous material.
He Shushan, a deputy mayor, confirmed Monday that there were 700 tons of sodium cyanide at the site at the time of the blasts, though authorities said there have not been any substantial leaks. Authorities also said they had sealed all waterways leading into the sea from the blast site and built retaining walls to prevent any runoff.
Sodium cyanide can form a flammable gas upon contact with water, and several hundred tons would violate rules that the warehouse could store no more than 10 tons at a time, state media said.
Chinese work-safety rules require such facilities to be at least 3,300 feet from residences, public buildings and highways. But online map searches show the Ruihai International Logistics warehouse was within 1,650 feet of both an expressway and an apartment complex. The apartment complex's walls were singed and its windows were shattered, and all residents have been evacuated.
About 100 people whose residences were damaged by the explosions gathered Monday to demand compensation from the government.
"We victims demand: Government, buy back our houses," said a banner carried by the residents outside the Tianjin hotel where officials have held daily news conferences about the disaster.
Halts by foreign firms
In response to the accident, several foreign companies have suspended operations around the Tianjin port.
Toyota said more than half of its China production capacity will be off line at least through Wednesday. The company has operations near the blast evacuation zone and said Monday that it had suspended three production lines, which can produce 530,000 vehicles a year.
Thousands of Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai and Renault cars, mostly expensive imports, parked on lots near the blast were decimated.
Panasonic, which has a product development center 3 miles from the blast site, kept its offices closed Monday out of safety concerns. A spokesman said executives were still evaluating whether to open today.
U.S. farm-equipment maker Deere & Co. said it suspended production at its facilities about 4 miles from the explosion site. It planned to resume operations later this week after cleanup and inspections.
The port is in one of China's new free-trade zones, designed to draw foreign investment and create an economic hub for China's northeast.
"This wasn't just an incident in some third-rate city. It was right at the heart of everything," said Chet Scheltema, regional manager at international business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates, who has lived and worked in Tianjin.
He said the explosions called attention to deficiencies in China's safety standards and emergency preparedness.
"There's still a lot to be done that's not immediately obvious," he said. "When you're trying to recruit your CEO and his or her family from the U.S. and they see these kinds of things on TV, or their family and relatives see this, they start to talk and think, 'Should I really be going to China? Are they really the state-of-the-art economy we thought they were?'"
Airbus' first assembly line outside Europe was built in Tianjin, which turns out four A320 aircraft per month. Spokesman Jacques Rocca said its facilities were unaffected. "We are evaluating what could be the impact in the coming weeks, but it will depend on the capability of the port of Tianjin to recover its activity," he said.
The Tianjin Maritime Bureau said Monday that 85 ships had been delayed or canceled but that port traffic is now normal.
Some shipments to Tianjin have been diverted to other regional ports, raising transport costs but minimizing the overall economic effect, said Roberto Giannetta, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association. "Damage to containers and cargo has been extensive," he said, adding that those losses would be borne by insurance companies.
Operations at the port are "slowly returning," Giannetta said.
Firefighters, police missing
The blasts killed at least 114 people, and 64 firefighters and six policemen are still missing, Tianjin government spokesman Gong Jiansheng said at a news conference Monday.
The death toll includes at least 21 firefighters, making the disaster the deadliest for Chinese firefighters in more than six decades. About 1,000 firefighters responded to the disaster.
The public has raised concerns about whether firefighters were put into harm's way in the initial response to the fire and whether they were properly trained and equipped to deal with the emergency.
Relatives of the missing firefighters on Monday gathered at the hotel in Tianjin for a third day to demand information about their loved ones.
"I've gotten no information from the authorities whatsoever," said Liu Runwen, whose 18-year-old son, Liu Zhiqiang, has been missing since Wednesday night.
Liu said his son joined the firefighters two years ago on the recommendation of a friend and embraced the danger despite safety concerns.
"He was proud to be a firefighter who could serve the people," Liu said.
Liu questioned whether his son was sufficiently prepared, and he complained that TV reports failed to mention contract firefighters like his son alongside full-fledged firefighters, adding that they're treated "as if they never took part at all."
Many of the Tianjin firefighters, including many of the dead, were not part of a full-time department, but rather had been hired on one-year contracts to act as an auxiliary firefighting force. They did not enjoy the official perks and job security of the national firefighting team, which is an adjunct of the paramilitary People's Armed Police.
Zhang Hong has in recent days spent her time outside Tianjin's Port Hospital holding up a photo of her 21-year-old son, Lei Chi. She said Lei was proud to be a contract firefighter, even if the job carried less prestige and fewer benefits than those of firefighters who work for the government.
"I remember he once proudly told me, 'Mom, what we have here is exactly the same as those national firefighters,'" she said.
"I just wish he could be in that hospital," she added. "It wouldn't matter even if he is seriously injured. It would be good as long as he is there somewhere."
In an interview Monday, one contract firefighter defended the training he and his co-workers had received, but he acknowledged that they were not taught specific methods for fighting different kinds of chemical fires.
The man, who declined to give his name and said he was off duty the night of the explosions, said it was unfair to blame his co-workers for spraying water on the blaze. "No one told them the fire involved chemicals," he said.
He said he has yet to learn the fate of the 25 men from his brigade who responded to the fire that night. "Our team is paralyzed with grief," he said.
Zhong Shengjun, a social scientist who studies industrial safety at Northeastern University in Shenyang, said the disaster is "partly because the firefighters couldn't contact the executives of the warehouse in time so as to know exactly where different chemicals were placed."
"This disaster has exposed several problems, such as the poor management of dangerous chemicals," he said. "In theory, they should be stored by category and have clear signs placed on their containers indicating their basic features."
In the U.S., firefighters regularly visit industrial sites to become familiar with hazardous materials and how they are used and stored.
Information for this article was contributed by Paul Traynor, Wong Wai-bor, Ian Mader, Didi Tang, Christopher Bodeen, Henry Hou, Deepti Hajela, Erika Kinetz, Kelvin Chan and Fu Ting of The Associated Press; and by Andrew Jacobs, Michael Forsythe, Vanessa Piao and Kiki Zhao of The New York Times.
A Section on 08/18/2015