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In all fairness, is there any city in the world that could cope effectively with something like this?

Pray for the people in that area, this kind of disaster could happen in many places....

I share your concern for all the injured and bereaved.

However, questions are fair and necessary if similar circumstances are to be appropriately and immediately addressed so as to avoid any repeats in the future.

I, for one, hope that we do not share similar vulnerabilities here in the US - but with the environmental catastrophe created by the EPA at the Gold King mine this week, it's unfortunate to suggest, but there's plenty of room for doubt.

Thinking on this a bit more, another issue occurred to me. This was an industrial park which was known and designed to secure/store hazardous and flammable materials. One would think that the fire/rescue units assigned to this location would be adequately trained and prepared to address those concerns. This report, in my opinion, validly questions the application of water to the initial flames, a response which may have exacerbated the immediate crisis.

In my own home, I have different types of fire extinguishers for different areas. I learned the hard way, as a newlywed - not to put out a grease fire on the stove by splashing water on it. In that case, a slick of oil spread on top of the counter and the flames spread till it burned out. Fortunately, my spouse came to the rescue with the lid to the pan and the emergency was immediately resolved. Nothing was scorched besides my ego. But it was a lesson well learned.

This particular incident occurred in one of the largest and most modern ports in the world. Again, questioning the emergency response is well within reason, and hopefully provides the impetus to avoid the possibility of this ever occurring under similar circumstances.