Explosion rocks Jilin

In a break from the sarcasm and sardonic posts of late, here is real news.

Jilin City, where I lived in China, pretty much has one primary industry left. Chemical production facilities. It's trying to branch out into other things like manufactoring, semi-conductors, and even fruit juice. But the one big employer in the city is the chemical industry.

It just got rocked Sunday. Major explosions apparently hit a workshop/facility in the north of the city. So far, no fatalities reported, though there have been reports of 30 injured. 10,000 additional people have been evacuated because of fears of further explosions, or (more significantly) polution and smoke being released from the factory. Apparently the one that suffered the explosion produces benzene.

It happened about 6 or 7 miles north (I'm just guessing, as all distance measurements in China seem to be time-based, not geography based) of where I lived. You can mostly see it in this map...my university was the icon on the south edge of the map, partially obscured by the copyright.

Apparenly, none of the people I know in town were around the facility at the time it exploded, so I'm hopeful it stays that way, but I'm guessing more news will trickle my way in the next few days.