China’s deadly earthquake on May 12 was a tragedy. It is already reported that over 50,000 people lost their lives. Now that rescue efforts are winding down attention is turning to other matters. In a country where families are only allowed to have one child, many are asking why so many schools collapsed. Some disturbing things are emerging.
The Washington Post reports in: Schools Fell While Other Buildings Held
Since the quake, parents’ grief has turned to anger.
Why, they ask, did the school collapse when other nearby buildings, including government offices, the teachers’ dormitory and even an old classroom building housing pet rabbits, withstood the quake?
The same question is being asked all over Sichuan, as residents have started to notice that, on street after street, schools collapsed while most government buildings did not. In Mianzhu county, a quarter of the 43 primary and secondary schools caved in, leaving more than 1,000 students dead, while the gleaming government complex remained fully operational and is now a staging area for emergency rescue and cleanup operations.
In total, nearly 7,000 schools have been reported destroyed in Sichuan by the quake; that figure could rise as reconstruction crews reach the hardest-hit areas.
The earthquake was a devastating tragedy. Sadly, it reveals a few unpleasant things about safety and where priorities were not in good alignment.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: disaster, earthquake
Building codes and safety regulations can be described as spotty at best in China. The article later reports:
Li’s classroom had been packed with 75 students for the awards ceremony. But one of the doors was locked. The students struggled to get through the remaining door. Only 36 made it out.
Students in the fifth- and sixth-grade classes upstairs also started fleeing. But only so many who could fit on the stairs at one time. A few tried to take the bridge to the teachers’ building but then changed their minds and turned around. They had been told that they would be punished if they ever took that route.
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