Three years after a fatal explosion hit the coastal city of Tianjin, families who lost loved ones are still dealing with the aftermath.

On August 12, 2015, a catastrophic blast in the city’s Binhai New Area claimed over 173 lives, injured nearly 800 people, and caused an estimated 70 billion yuan ($10.2 billion) in damages. Before the explosion, residents had been unaware that they were living near a warehouse haphazardly storing toxic chemicals and corrosive materials. 

Must of the area has changed since the tragedy. These days, there’s a new park on top of the former disaster site, and a primary school has opened nearby. Public discussion about the disaster has largely ceased.

In 2016, officials said that the damage from the explosion had been cleaned up and the adverse impact to economic and social development had been minimized.

But for the survivors and families who bore witness to the blast, the pain and memory of that traumatic night continues to affect their lives. 

Editors: Ding Yining and Julia Hollingsworth.

This is an original video by ChinaFile and has been published with their permission. The video can be found on their website here.

(Header image: Views of living rooms following the explosion in Tianjin, October 2015. Zhou Na for Sixth Tone)