Air quality worsens after explosion in Tianjin

Huge explosions hit an industrial area in northern Chinese port city of Tianjin late on Aug 12, triggering a blast wave felt kilometres away and injuring scores of people. [Photo/IC]

Premier Li Keqiang urged local authorities to release the related information timely to the public on Thursday after huge blasts hit warehouses in Tianjin at midnight of Wednesday.

Rumors are circulating online that the explosion of the chemical materials piled in the warehouse may have severely polluted the air and may be poisonous.

Currently, Tianjin municipal authority has not released any special alerts on air quality after the blast.

The real-time air quality data showed the air quality index of the two monitoring stations near the blast site were around 160, or moderate pollution, the third-highest level in the six-tiered air quality system, according to the data from municipal air quality monitoring website at 9 am.

The average concentration of PM2.5, the airborne pollutants with a diameter of 2.5 microns, increased quickly, from 76 micrograms per cubic meter to 117 micrograms per cubic meter in the past 24 hours in a nearby station, the website showed.

Another airborne pollutant PM10 saw the average concentration increased from 129 micrograms per cubic meter in the past 24 hours to 206, it said.