Monitoring mechanism for key traffic facilities proposed after deadly road collapses

In response to a series of deadly road collapses in the past few months, a Chinese geologist on Wednesday called for the establishment of a long-term inspection and monitoring mechanism for roads and other key traffic facilities so as to prevent reoccurrences.

The death toll of the latest disaster on Monday evening in Xining, capital of Northwest China’s Qinghai Province, rose to nine late Tuesday, with 17 injured people in stable condition, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

As of Wednesday, 10 people were missing, the Ministry of Emergency Management posted on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

The incident occurred around 5:30 pm Monday when a section of Nandajie Street collapsed and a bus fell into the sinkhole, Xinhua reported.

On December 1, a sudden cave-in at a construction site of the Metro Line 11 in in Guangzhou, capital of South China’s Guangdong Province, hit a cleaning vehicle and an electric scooter.

The bodies of all three buried people were found on January 10, national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported. And in June, five workers were trapped and then died in another metro tunnel construction site in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong Province.

Geological experts on Wednesday urged the relevant authorities to establish a longterm inspection and monitoring system for roads and other key transport facilities such as bridges and metro lines.

Road collapses can result from natural factors such as underground water or human factors such as poor-quality cement, or both, Wang Tun, head of the Sichuan-based Institute of Care-life, developer of the country’s earthquake early warning system, said.