Grief Turns to Anger for China's Earthquake Affected

CHAN:
The fragility of schools that collapsed in China's earthquake has aroused widespread claims that corruption compromised the strength of the school buildings. Hundreds of parents of children killed in Juyuan College are launching petitions to demand an answer.


STORY:
Forty four year old Zhao Deqin has set up a kerbside memorial to her twin daughters. They were killed when their school collapsed in China's 7.8 earthquake.

There's a petition signing site has become
a gathering place for parents. They're angry that sub-standard construction work may have killed their children.

The shrine-like memorial has wreaths for the deceased children of Juyuan Middile School as well as recent photographs of Zhao's twin 15 year old daughters, Yajia and Yaqi.

Across the earthquake-struck region, schools seemed to be the worst hit, killing thousands of students as the schools collapsed on the children studying inside.

[Zhao Deqin, Mother of Earthquake Victims]:
"We want to seek an explanation for our deceased children. The school was a tofu-dregs school. No other building except the one housing classrooms collapsed at the school. Now there are a lot of students dead, and as their parents, we feel immensely sad."
She refers to messy remnants left over when making tofu, or beancurd, a common Chinese term for shoddy workmanship and poor materials.

Zhao's husband, Qu Zhaoyong stands nearby. He's washing old plates found in the rubble, looking on as he takes in the reality of the loss of his twin daughters. In China, families with twins are considered most fortunate considering the country's strict one child policy.

[Qu Zhaoyong, Father of Earthquake Victims]:
"Now there are only two of us left in the family. We have no one left, our children are gone. The two of them, our twins, died in the school collapse, they are dead."

Zhao says hundreds of grieving parents in Juyuan have met and circulated petitions demanding punishment of officials or builders responsible for shoddy schools.

Asked what she wanted most, Zhao, like many of the other parents, says they seek official recognition that the children's deaths are due to more than random natural destruction.

Zhao's twin daughters attended Juyuan Middle School and were in a six-level building of classrooms that collapsed, killing more than 500 of the school's 1,300 pupils.

Category:

News & Politics

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[MyNameZebra]

Why are big cities even in areas prone to earthquakes?

[xXPandaTsubasaXx]

the twin's father looked like he didn't care.