Tangled Blame in Quake Deaths

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Picking Up the Pieces

China continues recovery efforts after a devastating 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit central China on May 12, 2008, and rendered millions of people homeless.

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A web of relationships between government officials and building contractors often obscured oversight responsibilities and thus who would be liable for shoddy buildings. A parent familiar with the construction of Xinjian Primary School said it was built in 1992 by a partnership involving the local education bureau, a hotel company and a government construction committee.

Emotions at the two-hour memorial service, however, were anything but complex. "Momma has come back. Why didn't you wait for me?" sobbed Chen Sumei, as she squatted before a pile of debris. Perched on top were two portraits of her daughter, smiling in a tracksuit and flashing a victory sign.

Family members, most holding portraits of their children, wore white T-shirts that read, "Severely punish the corrupted elements in the 'tofu dregs' buildings," a Chinese colloquialism that refers to the spongy byproduct when making bean curd.

They lined up in rows according to the child's class. One by one, each row walked to the front of those gathered and bowed three times to the rubble, before filing into the center of what used to be a four-story school. One woman clawed the concrete and pounded bricks with her fists until she collapsed, heaving tears and burying her face in the rubble. Some were silent as they lighted candles and incense and burned paper money, a ritual to aid a child in the afterlife.

Luo Ningdan, 7, led the first row into the rubble. She had escaped the cataclysm by running out of the building with 30 students from her second-grade class. But her best friend was among the 22 class members who did not make it out. "I'm here to say to her, 'good journey,' " Luo said.

Li Ping, 40, wept as he recalled seeing the body of his 9-year-old daughter three days after the earthquake. "There were no bruises, so I think she died from suffocation," he said.

A banner hung over the spot where the bodies had been placed when they were pulled from the rubble in the days after the May 12 quake. It read: "Take whole situation into consideration. Cause no trouble for the government. But won't stop fight until we get justice."

Late last month, grieving parents at a collapsed school in Mianzhu city staged a raucous protest march, causing the local Communist Party secretary to drop to his knees in the middle of the street and plead for them to stop.

One of the parents who helped organize the Xinjian memorial service said participants were refused a permit to march and that parents' speeches at the service were sent to local officials for approval.

Tears streamed down Yang Zhong Xue's face after he found his third-grade daughter's exercise book, decorated with her artwork. "My child died in vain because of a bad-quality building," he cried. "We want the government to severely punish those responsible."

But the government is still a long way from acknowledging quality problems. "It is still under investigation," said Yang Hong Bo, director of the Sichuan province construction department. "We haven't reached any conclusion yet."

Chen Baosheng, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai and a member of the Ministry of Construction's rescue expert team, examined debris at Juyuan Middle School -- not far from Xinjian -- which collapsed with 900 students inside, most of whom were crushed to death. According to Chen's measurements, the steel rods inside the pillars of the collapsed school were far below the standard, according to Southern Weekend.