November 26, 2005, Harbin-ger of the future
This week's visit to Pravda gives us this account of a major toxic spill (estimated to be an astounding 100,000 tons) of RBS (really bad s***), including heavy concentrations of benzene, that has emptied into a river that forms the water supply for the large-ish Chinese city of Harbin (4-5 million, despite the Pravda account of 10 million)...
The spill is on its way to the Russian border, where it will, in turn, effect the water supplies in various Siberian locales, all complicated by the extreme cold freezing the river... the Russians may, it looks like, deal with this one better than the Chinese... for one thing, the Russians can blame the Chinese for causing this in the first place.
Once again, the Chinese government officials decided to do what they usually do when something bad happens: lie about it, and indeed, deny that there was anything wrong. It seems to have taken weeks before full details of the plant explosion hundreds of miles upstream of Harbin have come to light, and appropriate public notice gone out about avoiding the water. Obviously, local bureaucrats fear repercussions about having failed in the first place, so as usual, damage control efforts are hampered by... well, you know the rest.
Government officials reacting slowly and inappropriately, and then "spinning" if not outright lying about it, to the detriment of their constituents...
Glad that sort of thing only happens in China.
Comments
On NPR's Weekend Edition Scott Simon called it "the Chinese Katrina."
(I removed the triple w; let's see if it takes.)
Posted by Linkmeister at November 26, 2005 1:12 PM
World traveler, trust funder and high school chum "Bill" reports that Harbin is roughly the same population-wise as Los Angeles, and like Los Angeles predominently dependent upon a single water source.
Posted by Thomas Ware at November 27, 2005 12:49 PM
It's about time the Chinese proved their seriousness in reducing their population numbers.
Posted by John Birch at November 27, 2005 8:44 PM