Natech accidents at industrial facilities. The case of the Wenchuan earthquake

Elisabeth Krausmann (1) , Ana Maria Cruz (1) , Bastien Affeltranger (2)

1 IES - JRC Institute for Environment and Sustainability
2 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques

Natural disasters can trigger chemical accidents (so-called Natech accidents) with severe consequences on man or the environment. This work highlights the main characteristics of earthquake-triggered Natechs by describing our insights from a field trip to chemical facilities in the area affected by the 12 May, 2008, Wenchuan earthquake in China. Our preliminary results indicate that damage was most severe in older facilities with masonry and un- or poorly reinforced concrete structures being the most vulnerable. Debris impact and the shaking loads caused damage to and loss of equipment and pipes where hazardous-materials releases occurred. Emergency response on-site was hampered by a loss of lifelines

Keywords: EARTHQUAKE; DAMAGE; CHEMICAL SPILL : HAZARDOUS MATERIALS; NATECH RISK

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]

Elisabeth Krausmann, Ana Maria Cruz, Bastien Affeltranger. Natech accidents at industrial facilities. The case of the Wenchuan earthquake. 2. International Conference on Risk Analysis and Crisis Response (RACR 2009), Jan 2009, Beijing, China. pp.53-59. ⟨ineris-00976215⟩