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Nat Hazards (2014) 74:12991305 DOI 10.1007/s11069-014-1232-2
SHORT COMMUNICATION
B. Zhao
Received: 1 May 2014 / Accepted: 9 May 2014 / Published online: 17 May 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Abstract As a result of rapid economic development, China is consuming roughly 500 million tons of oil. At present, it is the second-largest consumer of oil worldwide. Furthermore, the increase in its oil consumption has been the highest in the world for 13 consecutive years. The total mileage of domestic oilgas transportation pipelines in China is 102,000 km, and these pipelines are hazardous. On November 22, 2013, an oil pipeline exploded in Qingdao City in Shandong Province, thus resulting in great personnel and property losses. This short communication briey introduces this catastrophe, its causes, and some of the related emergency responses.
Keywords Qingdao pipeline explosion Casualties Reections
1 Introduction to the event
At 2:40 a.m. on November 22, 2013, the Dong-Huang pipeline of the Sinopec Pipeline Transportation and Storage Branch Company ruptured, which caused an oil spill in the Huangdao District of Qingdao City, Shandong Province. The head of the oil pipeline was located at Dongying City in Shandong Province, and its end was situated in the Huangdao oil depot at the Qingdao City development zone. Upon detecting the accident, the Sinopec immediately deactivated the Huangdao oil depot. However, oil had inltrated the rainwater pipes of the municipal pipe network. Moreover, approximately 1,000 m2 of crude oil polluted the roads of Zhaitang Island. Some of the oil also owed into approximately 3,000 m2 of the Jiaozhou Bay through the rainwater pipeline. This pollution occurred near
B. Zhao (&)
Research Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China e-mail: [email protected]
B. Zhao
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Qingdao pipeline explosion: introductions and reections
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Fig. 1 Brief introduction to Qingdao. The left side provides general location information regarding the pipeline explosion point based on Google Earth, whereas the right depicts the accident scenario (Sources: Baidu)
the estuary and was almost simultaneous with combustion of crude oil at the end of the storm sewers, which was in turn approximately 1 km away from the explosion point. During repair, the working...