Villagers in fear of chemical zone miasma
- Source: Global Times
- [00:22 February 09 2010]
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By Yin Hang
Three thousand villagers in South China's Guangdong Province were told they could return to their homes Sunday afternoon, just hours after an emergency evacuation triggered by a gas leak from a nearby chemical plant.
But the residents of Xiaohu village, near the provincial capital Guangzhou, say they fear further leaks could occur at any time.
The leakage occurred around 11 am Sunday, when a pungent gas suddenly shrouded the village, which has a population of around 4,000.
Amid pouring rain, the stench forced thousands of villagers to flee in vehicles, motorcycles or whatever transport available, according to the Guangzhou Daily.
The local government later dispatched buses and ambulances to help evacuate villagers to the closest township. A total of 24 villagers, mostly the elderly and children, were sent to a nearby hospital, after becoming dizzy and vomiting.
Mai Beijin, 35, evacuated with his family immediately after neighbors alerted him to the leak.
"It's an offensive odor. Weaker people had a stronger response to the smell. It made me feel sick," Mai told the Global Times.
The chemical gas was confirmed to have leaked from Sartomer, a company with headquarters in the US, which supplies acrylate, oligomers, and other chemicals for compact disks, package coating, furniture and eyeglasses. The gas leak came from its branch in the Guangzhou Nansha chemical zone, where there are also residential quarters.
The Director of Sartomer China said the odor came from acrylic resin, which is produced in one of its workshops. The emergency valve for one of the pot stills in the workshop was released after an irregular rise in pressure. As a result there was spill of around five kilograms of acrylic resin that produced a noxious vapour. The pot still was immediately shutdown, and cooling measures prevented any more leakages. Five employees in the workshop were immediately evacuated, and no casualties were reported.
Wang Shukun, an official with the local emergencies office, said environmental monitors were still analyzing the severity of the pollution.
The local government will pay the costs for villagers' physical check-ups, the Nanfang Daily reported.
According to Mai, this was the second time in four years that an evacuation has been required after a chemical leakage.
"Since they set up their chemical compound in our village, the air quality has decreased. We now close our windows at night. I'm quite afraid that I will die in my sleep because of it. We hope they will move out from our village," complained Mai.
The last gas leak occurred April 9, 2006, when a massive evacuation was prompted by a spontaneous combustion of methylene chloride, a colorless, volatile liquid widely used as a paint stripper or degreaser.
