Villagers reassess lives after fatal explosion

Ding Haibo, another villager in Shadang, said the chemical factories have become an inseparable part of the local community.

Gu Wei, who lives in Sigang village, about 4 km from the industrial park, said many people chose to work for the chemical factories because their farmland was acquired for development. The 35-year-old joined those who fled in 2011 when the rumor of an imminent explosion spread. The crowds running from the village caused a severe traffic jam.

Li Chunhua, director-general of the Green Stone Environmental Protection Center, an NGO in Jiangsu, said, "While the local residents constantly complain about air and water pollution as well as voicing their concerns about safety, they depend on the industrial park. They don't seem to have a choice."

According to a survey conducted by the center in 2016, more than 85 percent of local residents said the industrial park had a severe impact on their lives. "The fact is that the villagers can coexist with the park if all the environmental protection and safety measures are in place," Li said.

But Gu said the factories had often made the air in the village unbearable, adding, "Sometimes you feel as if your eyes are burning."

Xiangshui county is in the north of Jiangsu, which is less developed than southern parts of the province. In the 1990s, the chemical engineering industry also supported economic development in the south until local governments started to attach greater importance to environmental protection and decided to close heavily polluting factories.

At the start of this century, many factories in the south began to move to northern areas of Jiangsu. They were offered preferential policies and cheaper labor.

According to the website of the Xiangshui government, the industrial park has expanded from 4 square kilometers to 10 sq km.

Gu said, "When construction of the park started, local officials asked the villagers to understand that the factories would help them to get out of poverty, so they would have to make some compromises, such as enduring the pollution."

In June 2017, the Xiangshui county government held a meeting to discuss how to relocate those villagers still living too close to the industrial park, which had failed to meet health and safety standards. The relocation was ordered by an environmental protection supervision group dispatched by the central government.

On Monday, the pungent smell of chemicals lingered in the air in Caogang village, about 500 meters from the industrial park.