China reconstructing earthquake hit areas.

a4agent · May 17, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-pdvvKtCTM&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zx4CT0bTNk&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2GfwO7awo8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYY2K32OahU&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXq9f7PpSyM&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMTbacmFq6c&feature=channel_page

blkperc · May 17, 2009

its crazy how they were throwing the bricks over their heads without wearing a safety helmet

a4agent · May 17, 2009

blkperc said: ↑

its crazy how they were throwing the bricks over their heads without wearing a safety helmet
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They are hard working peasants probably having difficulty making ends meet, a safety helmet is probably their last concern. Do you own one? Perhaps you can donate your's to them. :biggthumpup:

ralphrepo · May 18, 2009

I for one, am glad to see that the PRC government got the message that you cannot skimp on construction safety. The first video is quite interesting as obviously CCTV (the PRC state owned television company) focuses on the extensive redundancies and earthquake resilience of of the new construction. Shot after shot, close up after close up, notes the over capacity strength of the rebar (Reinforcement Bar) that is to be covered with concrete. All well and good. However, if you compare that to what is seen in the first video at 00:18 seconds, one has to ask if the rebar in the collapsed buildings perhaps didn't meet construction standards.

Ask if you want, but according to a recent PRC government finding, there was no malfeasance after what they felt was a long and exhaustive investigation since last year. Further, the PRC recently released figures of a total 5300 or so children lost (confirmed dead or still missing). An interesting, and perhaps revealing, article appeared in China's state run news service Xinhua about three weeks ago:

In a rush? For a quick synopsis, just read the red highlighted lines.

After fatal lesson, China builds stronger school in quake zone
www.chinaview.cn
2009-04-28 11:09:28

Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

CHENGDU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- His son might have survived the Sichuan earthquake, had such school buildings been available at the time. As Song Guobin worked on the construction site of a new school in the Leigu Township of southwest Sichuan province, his feelings were mixed. "The new school buildings are definitely stronger," he said, pointing at a pillar. "If only my boy could study in such a building as this." In the background, more than 100 workers were busy finishing the three-story building, which is set to open on May 12, the first anniversary of the massive earthquake. Song's elder son, Song Lei, died in the earthquake, as the 10th-grader was in class at the Beichuan middle school. According to Wei Qiang, an engineer from the eastern Shandong Province who helped designed the new building, it can resist earthquakes of up to 9.0 on the Richter scale. "More steel and concrete was used in this building" than in the older ones, he said. Li Qiang, vice headmaster of the primary school, estimated that the cost of the new building was 2,000 yuan (294 U.S. dollars) to 3,000 yuan per square meter, four or five times of the cost of the old building.

NATIONAL ISSUE

Criticism arose after the quake, which left more than 80,000 people dead or missing. The poor quality of school construction was blamed for the death of many students.

It is unknown how many children died in the disaster, but more than 7,000 schools collapsed in southwest China¹

Li recalled that the old three-story school was built in the 1980s, using just concrete blocks without a steel framework. In the Beichuan middle school, where old Song's son died, just four thin steel bars were used in each section of the wall, instead of eight thick ones as shown on the blueprint. Many bereaved parents took to the streets, questioning construction quality and demanding a reply from local governments. Officials apologized and the Communist Party chief of one county even knelt before parents. The quality of schools in Sichuan became a national issue overnight. President Hu Jintao vowed during his visit to Sichuan at the end of last year that schools would be built as safe places that could stand the test of time.

SAFE PLACE

Statistics from the Sichuan provincial education department showed that 3,340 schools needed to be rebuilt after the earthquake. As of last Friday, 1,937 schools were under construction, about 58 percent of the total. Construction of another 278 schools has been completed, 8.3 percent of the total. Under national regulations, new schools should be able to resist quakes of up to 8.0 on the Richter scale. Some schools chose to make the buildings even stronger, like the Zundao middle school in Mianzhu. That three-story school building, sponsored by real estate developer Vanke group, cost more than 10 million yuan. "In normal school buildings, about 50 to 60 kilograms of steel were used in each square meter," said Peng Xingkui, general manager of the Xindi Construction Company.
But in Zundao, they used more than 100 kg of reinforcing steel bars, each as thick as 25 millimeters in diameter, he said.

Steel plates and rubber were interlaced in the walls, where they will function like springs. These structures "serve as a cushion when a quake hits," said Peng. He added that the "cushion" could last for 70 years and was replaceable. After the 1,271 students moved into the new building, they experienced several aftershocks. "Gradually, fewer students panicked," said Yang Xingquan, headmaster of the Zundao Middle School. "To them, the school has become a safe place," he said. Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan City was one of the worst-hit schools in the quake, where nearly 300 students were killed. Parents of the dead students have staged several protests over building quality.

Xu Maohui, whose 15-year-old daughter was killed, found wooden sticks in the pillars of the toppled old building.

But this time, said an unidentified official at the construction site, "We have 38 steel bars in each pillar in the new building, almost twice as many steel bars as used in ordinary buildings." In addition, L-shaped buttress walls about 2m wide were built at each turn of the stairs.

LESSONS FROM DISASTER

At a meeting last year presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, the amended the Law on Precautions against Earthquake and Relief of Disaster was passed. It takes effect on May 1 this year. According to the law, schools and hospitals must be designed to stand strong earthquakes. School buildings should stand quakes of at least 8.0. The Red Cross Society of China has published guidebooks for students, telling them how to survive disasters. These books were first used in Sichuan on April 2. "These children will tell their parents what they learn," said Liu Ping, assistant to the director of the society's training center. "In this way, more people would come to realize the importance of emergency escape and the skills to help each other," she said. However, having schools in Sichuan reopen might be the paramount goal. Sichuan Province has pledged to have 95 percent of the students back in school buildings, rather than tents or prefabricated structures, before the end of this year. All students should be in regular school buildings by next spring. Construction of the Beichuan Middle School is to start on May 12, the first anniversary of the quake, and the school is scheduled to be in use next September. The new, 200-million-yuan building, which can hold 5,000 students, was sponsored by overseas Chinese from around the globe. It was designed by staff at renowned universities like Tsinghua University, the University of Hong Kong, Tongji University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Construction worker Song Guobin hopes his younger son, 3-year-old Wang Haoyu, can study in a safe building. "Now that his brother is dead, he carries all my hopes," Song said.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/28/content_11272165.htm
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Interesting figures. If you apply one set of figures of what the PRC government released, to another set of released figures, you get 5300 students dead or missing from over 7000 collapsed schools. In terms of mass casualties, that's not bad, because you're then averaging less than one dead per school. Any death is bad, but in terms of disaster statistics, less than one dead per location is considered to be a good statistic; that is, unless someone is being very overly creative with their numbers.

And I don't know how it can find absolutely no evidence of malfeasance when even it's own newspaper is reporting that less than the needed rebar was found in one school, and another had rebar substituted with wood instead. The article stated the cost of a new building was four to five times that of the old one. Would missing rebar cost that much? Even adjusting for the cost of inflation, why should a new building cost so much more? Is there the possibility that the old one simply cost too little; like someone did it on the cheap? That is, it wasn't just the rebar, but the foundation depth, thickness of the concrete, pillar separation, et cetera. In other words, the whole building wasn't built right in the first place; that's why it was so cheap to begin with. And of course, it's natural that no one can be blamed for this, right? The videos also shows how engineers and workers have stated repeatedly that the government "has insisted" that the highest quality materials go into the contruction of the new buildings. Does that mean then, that unless the government "insists," less than top quality material will usually go into construction? The whole of the CCTV video comes off as an inspirational self sacrificing piece (esp recalling the man who chose reconstruction work over attending his dying father) worthy of those old "为人民服务" posters of yesteryear.

It's great that China is finally taking this seriously, even if it has to be only after the result of intense and sustained public pressure. It's not great in that the government has to keep lying about the true student death toll, how grieving parents seeking redress are being harassed by police, and how it can't seem to pin blame on anyone even when the evidence is glaring. This is why it is so important to keep the pressure on. Governments only become honest when they know people are watching; and they know we're watching if we're talking about it.

Moreover, with every Chinese disaster, the party line has always been, not to talk about what happened (and who is responsible), but keeping eyes (and questions) focused on the future. But talking and expressing dissatisfaction often focuses on what needs to be talked about in the future by the party. In this case, The CCP got the message loud and clear; school construction cannot be skimped on.

¹ At the time of the China View article, the student death toll was not yet released. The number of 5300+ was released about two weeks afterwards.

blkperc said: ↑

its crazy how they were throwing the bricks over their heads without wearing a safety helmet
Click to expand...

Industrial safety has been an ongoing issue within the PRC for decades (eg the coal mining industry) Chinese lives just don't seem to warrant as much government mandated safety requirements as that of their western counterparts. Sad.

China reconstructing earthquake hit areas.

a4agent Well-Known Member

blkperc Well-Known Member

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ralphrepo Well-Known Member