A government investigation found that schools in West China felled by a quake last May collapsed because of the size of the tremor, an official said today, rejecting claims some were weakened by construction flaws.
Thousands of students were trapped under their crumpled classrooms, many of which tumbled while surrounding buildings withstood the devastating tremor, but China has refused to give any estimate of how many died in the schools.
Wei Hong, Deputy Governor of worst-hit Sichuan province, said officials were still calculating the number of dead children, nearly a year after the quake. Overall more than 80,000 people were killed and thousands more are missing.
Bereaved parents say corrupt officials or construction firms pocketed some of the cash meant for schoolrooms and instead bought cheaper, sub-standard materials.
But Mr Wei said an investigation by engineers and government officials showed that the quake was the cause of the tragedy.
"The scale of the earthquake was very big, and it was very strong, so that was the main and most important reason schools and some other buildings were damaged," Mr Wei said, presenting the conclusion of the long-promised study for the first time.
The differing geography of affected areas in the quake zone meant each was affected in different ways, he said at a news conference on the sidelines of China's rubber-stamp parliament.
Mr Wei did not directly address the issue of why schools beyond the worst-hit cities - where few buildings were left standing - appeared more prone to collapse than surrounding structures.
Some 95 per cent of school buildings should be restored by the end of 2009, he said.
But work was slower in remoter, colder areas, with roads still not all reconnected in parts of Sichuan's Aba region, Jiang Yiman, executive vice president of the Red Cross Society of China, told Reuters in an interview.
Corruption has also overshadowed some of the efforts, with many in China infuriated by news earlier this year that officials in the heart of the quake zone had bought luxury cars.
Wei said the government was working hard to tackle corruption and strengthen oversight, but he did not offer any plans for independent supervision of funds. He said officials involved in the car purchases had received strict warnings.
As China struggled to come to terms with the devastation in Sichuan, where most deaths occurred, the damage in neighbouring Gansu province initially received less attention, forcing vice-governor Feng Jianshen to travel to Beijing five weeks after the quake to plead for tents and shelter.
The death toll in Gansu was 365, but 1.8 million people were left homeless in a region that was already impoverished and barely accessible by road.
Resentment over the pace of reconstruction helped fuel a riot in quake-hit Wudu, in Gansu's southern region of Longnan, where thousands took to the streets, attacked official buildings and burned cars in November.
But Mr Feng said the situation had now improved somewhat and all the region's quake victims should be in new or repaired housing by the end of 2009. "Schools and hospitals should also be basically rebuilt by the end of this year," he said.
Reuters