Xi orders nationwide safety inspections
After Changsha building collapse, president calls for all-out rescue effort and probe into cause
President Xi Jinping called on April 30 for a nationwide special safety inspection of self-constructed buildings, after a deadly building collapse in Changsha, capital of Hunan province.
Xi ordered a “search at all costs, every effort (to be made) to treat the injured, and proper management of the aftermath work”. He also urged a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident.
The building in Changsha’s Wangcheng district collapsed on April 29, leaving 23 people trapped and 39 missing. As of May 3, the case remained under investigation and rescue work was continuing. Ten people had been rescued and five people were confirmed dead.
The 10th survivor, a woman, was pulled from the rubble at 0:02 am May 5 after 131 hours of ordeal amid roaring applauses at the site. Rescue workers said they applied total wholesite silence and used multiple means to locate and reach her.
Prosecutors on May 3 authorized the arrest of nine suspects in the collapse.
Changsha prosecutors said the building owner, surnamed Wu, and three others responsible for the building’s design and construction were suspected of having serious liability in connection with the accident. Five people from a private engineering quality testing company, including its legal representative, surnamed Tan, and four technical employees were suspected of providing false certification documents.
Videos circulating online showed the building collapsed shortly after 12 pm on April 29, raising a huge cloud of dust and leaving a trail of rubble.
On April 30, State Councilor Wang Yong led a team to Changsha to guide the rescue and emergency response.
Search and rescue teams were working nonstop to find those trapped inside, while reinforcing adjacent buildings which had become unsafe due to the damage sustained.
Authorities dispatched firefighters, armed police and social forces of more than 700 people, as well as fire engines, cranes, power generators, life detectors and other rescue equipment.
A Changsha government official pledged at a news briefing on April 30 to “seize the golden 72 hours of search and rescue for trapped people at all costs”.
The government said the collapsed building had been built by residents and had eight stories. The first floor was occupied by shops, the second by a restaurant, the third a cafe, the fourth to sixth floors housed family hotels, and the seventh and eighth were for private housing.
The edifice was built in 2012 as a six-story building, and two stories were added in 2018. Tenants made structural changes to the building, but further investigation was needed to determine the precise cause of the collapse.
Zhang Zheng, deputy chief of the Changsha Fire Rescue Department, said at a news conference on May 1 that the debris was tightly compacted and the structure of the building was complex, leaving very narrow space for rescue.
Adjacent buildings were also severely damaged and the risk of collapse still existed.
Regarding those buried in the rubble, Zhang said their situation was unclear, and using large pieces of machinery in the search was risky and could cause secondary injuries.
At that stage on May 1, Zhang said rescuers were getting close to some of the people trapped. “We have been using audio and video life sign detectors to find out their exact location and the condition that they are in so we can draw up a plan to get them out. We know that dust created by search and rescue activities has fallen on the hair of some of the trapped people.”
Huang Ming, minister of emergency management, chaired a video meeting and said “profound lessons” should be learned from the collapse, and that it is urgent to conduct comprehensive investigations to eliminate all kinds of safety hazards.