Soldiers were yesterday searching a muddy river for bodies
following the devastating flood which killed at least 92, most of
them school children, in Shalan township in northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province.
Last night, as well as the confirmed death toll, at least 11
were still missing.
About 40 soldiers in formation went about their grim task in the
waist-deep river a few hundred meters south of the school in Shalan
of Ning'an as they looked for bodies that might have been swept in
on Friday.
"I didn't see any bodies this morning," said a villager who,
along with about 400 others, arrived from another county to help
clear the mud that covered the township school grounds and nearby
areas.
"But on Sunday, they did recover two bodies from the muddy
waters, and they were claimed by relatives," he said.
Dozens of volunteers from neighboring counties also came to help
in the clean-up operation; and a few tried to find the missing
children on their own.
Zhao Xiaolan, along with a relative, was searching for his
13-year-old nephew who has been missing since Friday, but he was
not optimistic.
"Chances (of finding the boy) are very slim," Zhao said.
The school playground was totally covered in thick mud
yesterday. There were poignant reminders of the tragic events three
days earlier: chairs, schoolbags, books and paper, lay scattered in
the mud. In the drab surroundings, a pink Mickey Mouse bag stood
out.
The water level inside the classrooms, now looking like wrecks,
had touched 2 meters.
In a classroom where about 50 first-graders were reportedly
killed, the desks were piled up against the wall with broken chairs
strewn over the floor.
Many of the windows were broken, but the bars outside could have
prevented children and their parents who came to help from
escaping.
Outside the school lay the rotting bodies of animals, attracting
flies and emitting a foul stench.
Meanwhile, there was a semblance of a return to normality with
142 primary students going to school yesterday morning.
Classrooms were moved to Shalan Middle School, some 2 kilometers
away from Shalan Township.
Traumatized students, many terrified of returning to school,
were counseled by psychologists from Mudanjiang City.
Local education authorities provided 360 sets of desks, chairs,
textbooks and stationery for the resumption of classes.
The central government was said to have earmarked 10 million
yuan (US$1.2 million) to rebuild Shalan Township Elementary
School.
Lu Bing, mayor of Mudanjiang city, said the new school would be
built on higher ground and construction would be completed before
winter.
Huang Mingjun and Li Zuoyu, respectively the Party secretary of
Shalan and the chief of its police station, were publicly censured
for their negligence and an investigation will be launched.
Before the floodwaters reached Shalan, Zheng Changhui, secretary
of Hesheng Village on the upper reaches of Shalan River, called the
Shalan government and its police station to give a flood
warning.
However, no one in the government received the phone call, while
the police station said there was nothing they could do because
"everyone was out."
"If there had been someone answering the phone, or attaching
enough importance to the warning, this tragedy might not have
happened," said a mother who lost her eight-year-old daughter.
The governor of Heilongjiang Province Zhang Zuoji expressed his
condolences to the victims' families and said he had "an
unshirkable responsibility, and would face any disciplinary
action."
State Councilor Chen Zhili, who arrived at the flood-hit area on
Sunday, conveyed the condolences of President Hu Jintao and Premier
Wen Jiabao.
Wen has instructed that relief work be speeded up and urged
authorities at all levels to pay close attention to the safety of
students, especially during the rainy season.
An emergency notice issued by the Ministry of Education requires
schools nationwide to have thorough safety checks. If any danger is
detected, classes should be moved or even cancelled.
(China Daily June 14, 2005)