Eleven Shanghai officials were handed down punishments on Wednesday over the New Year's Eve stampede on the Bund. The officials include both the Party secretary and the chief of Huangpu district.  Is the accountability strong enough? Many may have pondered this question.

Frankly, in the aftermath of the tragedy, the faster Shanghai municipal government holds officials accountable, especially high-ranking ones, the more the public will welcome the response. Accountability at some point is designed to vent public emotions and this is particularly the case in China now.

Admittedly, public opinion has become an important factor to consider when governments deal with public events.

However, when it comes to accountability, public opinion remains a reference and relevant laws and regulations should be considered primarily. It's not wise to just overlook the public or be pushed completely by it.

To deal with emergency events, China has already issued an Emergency Response Law. This demands punishment for those in charge and any others held responsible, but opinions are divided on the definition. Perhaps China needs to see many individual cases before convention and consensus in this regard can be forged. It would be desirable if the authorities can make a more unequivocal interpretation of this law. 

There have been precedents. A stampede in 2004 at an officially organized event in Beijing's Miyun district claimed 37 lives and consequently the district Party secretary and chief were sacked. A fire in a tower block in Shanghai's Jing'an district in 2010, which killed 54 people, led to the removal of the district Party secretary and chief. Thus it is fitting that in the latest incident where a large crowd of people gathered voluntarily, the principal officials were defined as being directly responsible.

This accountability is even more justifiable, since the punished officials violated regulations by dining in a high-end restaurant on the same night as the stampede.

Even provincial-level officials have been disciplined due to inept handling of major incidents.

Former Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong resigned in 2003 over the SARS epidemic and then quit as governor of Shanxi Province in 2008 due to a major coal mine accident.

But these punishments may not be strongly related with public opinion. Given the problems in governments' public credibility, the public tends to hold senior officials accountable. Only more explicit rules can guide local governments to respond to major accidents efficiently and direct public expectations toward drawing lessons from what happened.

Chinese officials and people have learned from the tragedies such as those in Beijing and Shanghai, but no one can assert that they won't happen again. Accountability is needed to reduce similar incidents, but it definitely won't address all our concerns.