Petitioners say blueprint proves their school made of 'tofu'

• Source: The Global Times
• [00:18 May 15 2009]
• Comments

Justice

Asked why they were still insisting on an appraisal of the building standards, Jiang Yong said, "My son was such a good boy - I owe him justice."
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The petition reads:"Only when the quality of the school buildings is investigated, and those responsible for producing and making tofu dregs stand accused, can the pain of parents be relieved, and the whole country pay due attention to construction quality and therefore prevent similar tragedies from ever occurring again."
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Jiang, Liu and friends have all been invited to "drink tea" with the police and say they were treated well. Similar petition attempts have also reportedly been filed by parents of students who died in the school buildings in Dujiangyan city, a suburb of Chengdu, said Liu Qiang, father of a 16-year-old dead boy.

"Some of the parents were taking trains to Beijing to petition, but all were chased back by the local police. The furthest they got was Zhengzhou (capital of Henan Province)."

There is no evidence that human negligence caused schools to collapse during last year's earthquake, the provincial government announced through a press conference for the one-year anniversary of the earthquake. A total 5,335 schoolchildren died when their classrooms collapsed, according to official figures released on May 7.

Liu's petition to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls in Beijing was referred back to provincial level. A Beichuan official met parents at the petition office in Chengdu and told them to drop the petition, said Jiang Yong.

In their March 22 official reply to the parents' petition request, the Beichuan Bureau for Letters and Calls said the Sichuan government had invited China Academy of Building Research in Beijing for an on-the-spot investigation. The academy's conclusion, the reply alleged, was that the high magnitude of the earthquake was the main and most important reason school buildings were destroyed.

No such investigation was ever undertaken by the academy, said its publicity department director on Wednesday.

"We haven't made any investigation of school buildings. That media report is very irresponsible," said the director, surnamed Song.

Invited to help in the compiling of new architecture standards, one or two academy engineers had looked over some school buildings, he said.

Sichuan Construction Department has already announced its final decision: no collapsed building will be appraised, according to the March 22 reply.

Every family next received a booklet on July 29: Earthquake the prime culprit, high magnitude the main reason for destruction of buildings.