The National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin was damaged by the blast in Tianjin Binhai New Area on the evening of August 12. Photo taken on August 13. [Photo by Yue Yuewei/Xinhua]

The National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, was damaged by the explosion at Rui Hai Logistics, just a couple of kilometers away, on the evening of August 12.

The Tianhe-1 Supercomputer was running as usual, but the machine was shut down for safety reasons, according to Liu Guangming, director of the center.

The building's outside wall and windows were damaged, but the supercomputer and the government administration machine room were not affected. The supercomputer will resume soon following the plan of the local government, said Liu.

The supercomputer center was established in 2009 and is equipped with the "Tianhe-1A" system, listed as the world's top supercomputer in November 2010. It is one of the few research institutions in the world with a computer that can compute more than a quatrillion times per second.

As a major project of the national high technology research and development plan, the design of the supercomputer was started in 2008. The supercomputer is able to compute for 1,206 trillion times every second. A computer equipped with Intel duo-CPU and 2.5GHz basic frequency has to work for 160 years nonstop to complete the daily work load of the Tianhe-1 supercomputer.

The birth of the computer made China the second country after the US which is able to develop a quatrillion computing level supercomputer in the world.

"With the country's economic development, the need of supercomputers in quatrillioin or higher computing level are increased in many industries such as the environmental control and bio-pharmaceutical areas," said Zhang Yulin, president of the National University of Defense Technology.

The Tianhe-1 supercomputer utilizes seven key innovative technologies. The comprehensive technological standard of the supercomputer ranked at the top worldwide. The supercomputer has many features such as outstanding ability, high efficiency, advanced security level, and easy accessibility.