Round-the-clock pollution monitoring to ease fears in wake of deadly blast

A round-the-clock monitoring system for pollutants from the Tianjin explosions is being put in place to provide accurate and timely data to worried residents, Chinese officials said on Friday. The move is in response to public anger about persistently poor work safety standards and possible health risks from the chemical warehouse blasts, which killed 145 people in the port city, not far from Beijing. Environment minister Chen Jining said monitoring would not let up, with 24-hour checking for air, soil and water pollution.

The ministry would release monitoring data to the public in a timely manner and accurately.

Environment minister Chen Jining

China has a poor reputation for transparency, especially when it comes to embarrassing incidents like disasters which could reflect badly on the ability of the ruling Communist Party to ensure public safety. A new environmental protection law, effective from Jan. 1, grants the public the right of access to environmental information and also stipulates that officials directly responsible for illegal behavior will be fired. China has formally detained a dozen people over the explosions and accused 11 officials and port executives of dereliction of duty or abuse of power.

Tianjin blast Asia-Pacific