4 million residents of Harbin, China are without water due to a chemical spill in Jilin province. The 80-kilometre (50-mile) long toxic slick is moving down the Songua River towards Russia, causing the evacuation of villages, and the death of wildlife along the way.
This is a huge environmental disaster with long-term international consequences.
Why is no one in the blogosphere talking about it?
Yesterday, I looked everywhere to see if I could find anyone talking about the possibility of helping clean up the benzene spill before the damage spreads to Russia and the Pacific Ocean. I looked for discussion of the possible longterm consequences of the spill to the river areas and the ocean. I looked for discussions of the political fallout of this event.
Why wasn’t anyone doing anything? Why was everyone in the world just letting this toxic slick flow down the river? Why weren’t other nations with experience cleaning up chemical spills offering their expertise in dealing with this disaster? How will this spill likely affect relations between the Chinese and the Russians?
This morning, I learned that the UN has offered to help. Thus far, neither the Chinese nor the Russian government have responded to UN requests for more information so they can help.
Another blast yesterday spilled benzene into a tributary of the Yangtze River in Dianjiang (part of the huge Chongqing municipality).