'No damage' after blast at chemical site

40,000 people living near the plant will be moved 15 km away following second accident in 20 months

Local authorities are optimistic that there has been no damage to the environment after an explosion at a chemical plant in Fujian province that forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

The city's environment protection bureau said on Sunday that monitoring of air and water quality in Zhangzhou, Fujian, since the disaster on April 6 showed "no significant harm to the natural environment due to the explosion has been detected so far", according to a Xinhua report.

The blast was caused when an oil leak caught fire and the flames spread to three storage tanks at the plant, which produces paraxylene, or PX, an industrial chemical used mainly to manufacture polyester. Paraxylene poses health and environmental risks because it is flammable and toxic.

An emergency headquarters set up after the explosion has assembled a panel including environmental, maritime and meteorological experts to monitor readings of poisonous gas, toxic chemicals and industrial sewage. No major hazard has been detected so far, said the report.

More than 29,000 local residents were evacuated from the area around the plant after fire broke out for a second time in two storage tanks in the early hours of April 8, two days after the explosion.

According to the emergency HQ, 28,257 evacuated residents have now returned to their homes, and the supply of tap water, electricity and gas have been restored. Roads closed during the emergency have also been reopened.

The report, quoting local officials, said all of the 40,000 people who live on Gulei Peninsula, where the plant is located, will be moved 15 kilometers away to Duxuan by October.

It was the second accident in 20 months at the plant, which is owned by Tenglong Aromatic Hydrocarbon (Zhangzhou) Co.

Qin Tianbao, an environmental protection expert at Wuhan University, said that even though paraxylene has low toxicity, building such plants should be strictly regulated after an environmental assessment and public review.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn