Grieving parents and frustrated citizens are demanding that officials start accounting for why schools were far more prone to collapses than government buildings. From Chris Buckley of Reuters:
China’s effort to erase public anger over the many schools destroyed by a vast earthquake last year is facing a new campaign for answers and troubling findings that classrooms suffered far worse than government offices.
Grieving for the 80,000 people killed across Sichuan province and neighbouring areas in southwest China will swell in the coming weeks, with the traditional Chinese day of family mourning on April 4 and the first anniversary of the quake on May 12.
[…]Of 44 school buildings counted, 57 percent (25) were damaged beyond repair. Of 54 government buildings, 13 percent (7) were in that state of damage, as were 25 percent of shops and housing.
Also mentioned in the article is acclaimed artist and blogger Ai Weiwei’s search for truth. To read more on this, see this CDT post entitled “Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Pushes for Full Account of Earthquake’s Casualties.”
