14 DAY TRIAL // The devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck China on May 12 reportedly killed more than 19,000 children and professors, in poorly-built schools across the Sichuan and Gansu provinces. Previous reports by the government attempted to hide the fact that most schools that collapsed had very weak structures, by focusing on families that remained homeless after the disaster. Also, Beijing authorities offered grieving parents money, so they wouldn't sue the government over school safety negligence.
Western news agencies tried to estimate the real number of children killed by school collapses by following official Chinese press releases, but they only managed to count less than 10,000 victims. This new report nearly doubles that number, which means that the victims caused by these buildings coming down alone make up for about a quarter of the total number of people killed by the tremor in the entire nation.
Apparently, weak steel beams were mostly responsible for the fact that these institutions fell when other buildings around remained standing. Early reports of the earthquake showed twisted steel coming out of the concrete slabs, which would seem to imply that the connections between the two were poorly designed. However, Beijing denies that it used low safety standards in constructing the schools.
The current situation in China looks bleak, with millions of people living in very poor conditions, in improvised shelters, trailers or prefab houses, made available by the government. In the aftermath of the disaster, the national government mobilized exemplary and moved efficiently to limit the spread of the devastation, by providing people with shelters and tents. However minimal the conditions, at least those who lost everything in the earthquake are not sleeping under the clear sky.
Chinese officials warn that the count of the victims is not yet complete, which means that the number of children and teachers killed in the tremor might increase even further, announced Sichuan province vice governor, Wei Hong.