China will study collapse of schools in earthquake
The public is angry after seeing fallen school structures surrounded by standing buildings. 'We really wonder about the construction quality,' a resident says.
SHANGHAI — Chinese officials, facing a barrage of questions from bereaved parents and angry citizens, say they will launch an investigation into why so many schools were toppled by last week's earthquake.
Officials said that at least 6,898 schoolrooms had collapsed in Sichuan province, where the quake was centered.
"If quality problems exist, we will definitely punish those responsible severely and give the public a satisfactory answer," said Han Jan, director of the Ministry of Education's development and planning department.
There are more than 418,000 elementary, middle and high schools in China, most of them in the countryside. The government has spent more than $2 billion in the last several years to renovate dilapidated rural schools.
But well before the magnitude 7.9 quake buried thousands of children in dozens of flattened schools, there was a long list of schools devastated by smaller quakes in China.
Since 1990, when China's seismic building codes were already established, thousands of schools have collapsed or sustained major damage, primarily in the countryside, according to research by Gao Jianguo, a professor at the Institute of Geology under the China Earthquake Administration in Beijing.
In 2003, the latest year for which Gao compiled data, earthquakes destroyed or damaged more than 2,300 schools that served 425,000 students. Gao's report didn't chronicle deaths and injuries, or the substantial toll to schools from other disasters such as heavy storms and flooding.
In an interview, Gao said one major reason schoolhouses in rural China are vulnerable is that they have larger rooms lacking interior roof supports to accommodate class sizes of 70 to 80 students.
"So if the construction doesn't meet standards, or cement quality isn't good, or the steel isn't thick and the beam not strong, then they are more likely to collapse," he said.
At Juyuan Middle School near Dujiangyan, just south of the quake's epicenter, scattered classroom chairs sit in the open sports field where students huddled the night of the earthquake, fearful of aftershocks. The teachers' rooms held up well. But the four-story main building was nearly destroyed, with about 900 students lost. One small four-story section remains, resembling a lighthouse in size and appearance, of what was once a large complex of classrooms.
"My 15-year-old nephew was found dead," said Wang Hong, a 41-year-old restaurant worker. "We really wonder about the construction quality."
- Temblor Reportedly Kills 94 in China Feb 24, 2003
- China says 5,335 students died in last year's quake May 08, 2009
- 6.7 Aftershock Jolts Southwestern China Dec 01, 1988
