Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/15
By: M.H. Chang, K.C. Chiu and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) Officials from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Saturday that hazardous chemicals released from deadly explosions at the port of Tianjin in China will not affect Taiwan, as southwesterly winds will take any pollution away from the island.

Rumors on social media had claimed that hazardous chemicals might have reached Taiwan two days after the Aug. 12 explosions and that people should avoid rain showers because the rain could be highly contaminated.

The officials said that the EPA applied the weather tracking method of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study the spread of pollutants after the Tianjin explosions and figured that any pollutants would move in a northeasterly direction.

Since the explosions occurred at chemical storage facilities of Ruihai Logistics, a firm specializing in handling hazardous materials, the report of a chemical plant’s storage of 700 tons of sodium cyanide there by some Chinese media have caused panic.     [FULL  STORY]