4 thoughts on “The Explosion(s) In China”

  1. Beautiful and frightening, indeed, especially the molten aluminum on the ground around the parking lots full of burned-out cars.

    The upside (if any) is that years upon years of nuclear bomb tests gave us significant data on overpressure damage effects. A skilled researcher may be able to take the pictures of the damaged buildings (not the burned out ones), knowledge of their distance from the site, and some formulae and come up with a general idea of the size of the original explosion.

    Even more frightening is the amount of negative-pressure damage done to those wrinkled-up cars and other debris around them. The main explosion must have been massive.

    1. Agreed. Just reading the experience of having to get past guards, takedowns of photos, confiscation of equipment and memory cards, etc.

      Now that I watched the dashcam video of the explosions, it appears that most of the destruction is a result of the second explosion, coming only 20-30 seconds after the first. The amount of debris after the second explosion was greatly amplified by the fact that the first explosion had already loosened everything up and broken all of the windows. I can’t help but wonder if the second explosion was partially a result of the backflow of inbound wind after the first explosion, which lit up the night as if it were daytime.

  2. Agree with wodun and Johnny above about the writing.

    Good photos too, if not for the subject. The photos certainly tell the intensity of this fire, with tires completely burned off and the remains of liquid metal (don’t tell Rosie O’). The human toll of this fire has to be immense.

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