Parents Mourn Loss of Children in Flash Flood
I FEEL ASHAMED. - Hecius
THE WORLD
Parents Mourn Loss of Children in Flash Flood
Residents of the Chinese town of Shalan estimate that 200 students died while at school Friday. Negligence may have set the stage for tragedy.
By Ching-Ching Ni
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 14, 2005
BEIJING — It was about 2 in the afternoon when Sun Shixiang and his wife saw the river water suddenly rise and rush toward the elementary school.
Sun dashed over and found his only son trapped in his third-grade classroom. The water reached the farmer's waist and was still rising. For the next three hours, father and son clung to a window frame and waited for the deluge to recede.
By the time they got out, more than half the school's 352 children had drowned, said villagers in Shalan, in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province.
"When we forced our way in, there were little bodies floating everywhere. It was unwatchable," Sun's wife, Sun Xiuqin, said by phone from her home. Although her 10-year-old son was saved, her 8-year-old nephew and 9-year-old niece were not. "The parents went mad. Everyone was crying."
Chinese authorities have attributed Friday's tragedy to torrential rains that caused the area's worst flash flood and mudslide in 200 years. They put the death toll at 92, of which 88 were children. But parents say the numbers are at least twice that.
At the local morgue, most of the 100 refrigerators contained not one but two bodies, villagers said. Other children were missing or had been buried by parents.
"We think at least 200 children died," said Ning Xuebin, 32, whose niece drowned in her classroom. "They are saying it's fewer than that because they don't want the truth to get out."
In China, deadly floods are an annual plague. This year's rainy season, which began in May, claimed more than 200 lives in southern China and affected millions before the school tragedy. Now, citizens in Shalan and elsewhere are questioning whether the government has taken adequate precautions.
According to an editorial in the China Daily newspaper, more than 30,000 reservoirs built in the 1950s and 1970s are in poor condition, verging on dangerous. Antiquated warning systems relying on bonfires or gunshots desperately need upgrading.
The parents in Shalan say that nature is only part of the problem.
"This is not just a natural disaster, this is also a man-made disaster," Ning said. "All it takes is a few minutes to evacuate the school, and all the children would be alive today."
Parents interviewed by phone said that about 40 minutes before the water hit the school, someone in a village upriver had tried to call and warn Shalan of the impending flood. But no one answered the phone at the school. The person who picked up at the town office said he was too busy to do anything about it. Another call went to the local police station. The officers were out on duty.
"The teacher, the principal, everybody has a cellphone. They could have easily warned the children," said a 36-year-old woman who gave only her surname, Zeng. Her 11-year-old son survived by running out of the classroom and wading in the river until his parents came. Three of their neighbors' sons didn't make it.
"Why didn't they do anything?" she asked. "Are these people human?"
By the time help arrived, most of the parents had fished their children out of the blackened water. Angry villagers said local officials had not only failed to lend a hand, they had stood in the way.
As parents raced to the school on motorbikes, police officers stopped some to issue fines for permit violations.
"If they didn't block the motorbikes, more parents could have gotten to the school on time to help the teachers save the children," Zeng said.
When the police chief came, he just stood there and watched, said Zeng's father-in-law, who gave only his surname, Zhang.
"He wore a life jacket," Zhang said. "One parent asked if he could borrow it. He said no. The parent jumped into the water without it."
According to the official New China News Agency, the town's Communist Party and police chiefs are under investigation for allegedly failing to organize a timely rescue.
What really shocked parents was that while some teachers risked their lives to help their students, others climbed to higher ground and abandoned the young.
"There is only one little girl left in the first grade," said Sun Xiuqin, the mother of the 10-year-old boy who survived. "When we got there, we saw their teachers standing on the roof. Those were 7- and 8-year-olds. How could they have fended for themselves?"
In some ways, the parents had known this was a disaster waiting to happen. The school sits on low ground. When the campus was reconstructed several years ago, it was supposed to be a two-story structure, but only one floor was built. Villagers believe officials pocketed the rest of the money.
When the local reservoir overflowed, the water rushed down the river toward the school. It filled up like a tank. The original playground might have been large enough to hold the excess water, but it had shrunk after teachers built new homes on the plot. They stood like a wall and helped trap the floodwater.
"It's like the school sat at the bottom of a wok. There's no way for the water to get out," Sun said. "The parents are devastated. Most of us have only one child. The police, government officials, if they cared enough, so many children wouldn't have to die."
洛杉矶时报：学生家长讲述沙兰镇中心小学遭洪水袭击过程
多维社记者纪军编辑报导／北京时间6月10日下午，黑龙江省宁安市沙兰镇中心小学遭遇洪水袭击，当地官方确认已有99人死亡，10人失踪，但当地居民说死亡人数要比官方公布的数字多出一倍，约有200名小学生遇难。当地居民在接受洛杉矶时报采访时说，在洪水袭击中心小学后，他看到四处都漂着小孩的尸体，也看到有的老师站在房顶而不管自己学生的死活。
洛杉矶时报发自北京的报导说，当地时间6月10日下午2时，沙兰镇居民孙世祥(译音)在看到河水迅速上涨后，就向中心小学跑去。孙世祥冲进学校时，发现他的独生子已被困在三年级的一个教室内。洪水很快就涨到腰部，并仍在继续上涨。
在接下来的3个小时中，孙世祥和他的儿子紧紧抓住教室窗户上的铁条，等待着洪水消退。然而在他们走出教室时，共有352名小学生的沙兰镇中心小学，已有一多半学生被洪水淹死了。
孙世祥的妻子孙秀芹(译音)在家中接受洛杉矶时报记者电话采访时说：“当我们强行冲出来时，到处都漂着小孩的尸体，惨不忍睹。”虽然孙秀芹10岁的儿子被救了出来，但她8岁的外甥和9岁的侄女都被洪水淹死了，“家长们都疯了，每个人都在哭。”
洛杉矶时报说，中国官方已将6月10日惨案归因于暴雨所造成的200年来罕见的洪水。当地官方最新确认说，已有99人死亡，其中95人为学生，4人为村民。但学生们家长们说，死亡人数要比官方公布的多出一倍。
沙兰镇居民说，当地太平间里，绝大多数冰柜里都不止放着一具尸体，而是两具。另外还有一些学生失踪了，或已被家长埋葬了。沙兰镇32岁的宁学斌(译音)说：“我们认为至少有200名学生被淹死，他们(当地官方)却说没有这么多人，因为他们不想让外界知道真相。”宁学斌的侄女也在教室中被淹死。
在中国，致命洪水是一场每年都会发生的天灾，在沙兰镇小学惨案发生前，从5月起开始的雨季，已在南方造成200多人死亡，数百万人受到影响。现在，沙兰镇的居民和其它地区的人都对政府是否已采取准确的预防措施表示怀疑。沙兰镇学生家长们说，大自然只是这场惨案的部分原因。
宁学斌说：“这并不只是一起自然灾难，也是一起人为的灾难。疏散学生只需要几分钟的时间，若是这样做了他们今天可能都会活着。”
其它学生家长在接受电话时说，在洪水袭击沙兰镇中心小学前40分钟，河上游的村民曾试着打电话警告沙兰镇，但学校里没人接听电话。而沙兰镇政府一名工作人员在接听电话时却说，现在太忙了办不了这事。电话又打到镇派出所，得到回答是正在办案解决不了。
一名36岁的曾姓的妇女告诉洛杉矶时报：“教师和校长，所有人都有手机，他们可以轻易地警告学生，但他们为何什么都没这样做？这些人还是人么？”曾姓妇女11岁的儿子因及时跑出教室而幸免遇难，在家长赶到学校时，孩子一直在河水中。曾家几个邻居的三个儿子都被洪水淹死了。
愤怒的学生家长说，当地官员不但在关键时候没有伸手援助，他们甚至还进行阻拦。在一些学生家长骑着摩托赶向学校时，其中几人还遭到警察拦截，并因无照驾驶而被罚款。
曾姓妇女说，如果这些家长不被警察截住，就会有更多的家长及时赶到学校，来帮助老师救学生。曾家人说，当地派出所负责人赶到学校时，只是站在那儿观看，他身上穿着救生衣，当一名家长问他能不能借用一时，他说不，于是家长只能没穿救生衣就跳进洪水中去找自己的孩子。
中国官方媒体报导说，沙兰镇党委书记和派出所所长已因未能及时组织抢救而接受调查。洛杉矶时报报导说，但最令家长们震惊的是，当一些教师在洪水抢救学生时，另一些人则爬到更高处而丢弃了自己的学生。
孙秀芹透露，沙兰镇中心小学一年级只有一个女孩活了下来，“当我们赶到学校时，我们看到他们的老师都站在房顶上，他们怎么能只顾自己而不管那些7、8岁孩子的死活呢？”
============
褐锈曰:
我们也是有孩子的父母了，看这样的新闻，心都在流血。发生这样的事，省长市长镇长全应该他妈的去坐牢。
Is it too hard to be a human? or simply an animal with a heart?
It's easy to get rich. But to be respected, it's much harder, if possible.
I do feel ashamed.
THE WORLD
Parents Mourn Loss of Children in Flash Flood
Residents of the Chinese town of Shalan estimate that 200 students died while at school Friday. Negligence may have set the stage for tragedy.
By Ching-Ching Ni
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 14, 2005
BEIJING — It was about 2 in the afternoon when Sun Shixiang and his wife saw the river water suddenly rise and rush toward the elementary school.
Sun dashed over and found his only son trapped in his third-grade classroom. The water reached the farmer's waist and was still rising. For the next three hours, father and son clung to a window frame and waited for the deluge to recede.
By the time they got out, more than half the school's 352 children had drowned, said villagers in Shalan, in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province.
"When we forced our way in, there were little bodies floating everywhere. It was unwatchable," Sun's wife, Sun Xiuqin, said by phone from her home. Although her 10-year-old son was saved, her 8-year-old nephew and 9-year-old niece were not. "The parents went mad. Everyone was crying."
Chinese authorities have attributed Friday's tragedy to torrential rains that caused the area's worst flash flood and mudslide in 200 years. They put the death toll at 92, of which 88 were children. But parents say the numbers are at least twice that.
At the local morgue, most of the 100 refrigerators contained not one but two bodies, villagers said. Other children were missing or had been buried by parents.
"We think at least 200 children died," said Ning Xuebin, 32, whose niece drowned in her classroom. "They are saying it's fewer than that because they don't want the truth to get out."
In China, deadly floods are an annual plague. This year's rainy season, which began in May, claimed more than 200 lives in southern China and affected millions before the school tragedy. Now, citizens in Shalan and elsewhere are questioning whether the government has taken adequate precautions.
According to an editorial in the China Daily newspaper, more than 30,000 reservoirs built in the 1950s and 1970s are in poor condition, verging on dangerous. Antiquated warning systems relying on bonfires or gunshots desperately need upgrading.
The parents in Shalan say that nature is only part of the problem.
"This is not just a natural disaster, this is also a man-made disaster," Ning said. "All it takes is a few minutes to evacuate the school, and all the children would be alive today."
Parents interviewed by phone said that about 40 minutes before the water hit the school, someone in a village upriver had tried to call and warn Shalan of the impending flood. But no one answered the phone at the school. The person who picked up at the town office said he was too busy to do anything about it. Another call went to the local police station. The officers were out on duty.
"The teacher, the principal, everybody has a cellphone. They could have easily warned the children," said a 36-year-old woman who gave only her surname, Zeng. Her 11-year-old son survived by running out of the classroom and wading in the river until his parents came. Three of their neighbors' sons didn't make it.
"Why didn't they do anything?" she asked. "Are these people human?"
By the time help arrived, most of the parents had fished their children out of the blackened water. Angry villagers said local officials had not only failed to lend a hand, they had stood in the way.
As parents raced to the school on motorbikes, police officers stopped some to issue fines for permit violations.
"If they didn't block the motorbikes, more parents could have gotten to the school on time to help the teachers save the children," Zeng said.
When the police chief came, he just stood there and watched, said Zeng's father-in-law, who gave only his surname, Zhang.
"He wore a life jacket," Zhang said. "One parent asked if he could borrow it. He said no. The parent jumped into the water without it."
According to the official New China News Agency, the town's Communist Party and police chiefs are under investigation for allegedly failing to organize a timely rescue.
What really shocked parents was that while some teachers risked their lives to help their students, others climbed to higher ground and abandoned the young.
"There is only one little girl left in the first grade," said Sun Xiuqin, the mother of the 10-year-old boy who survived. "When we got there, we saw their teachers standing on the roof. Those were 7- and 8-year-olds. How could they have fended for themselves?"
In some ways, the parents had known this was a disaster waiting to happen. The school sits on low ground. When the campus was reconstructed several years ago, it was supposed to be a two-story structure, but only one floor was built. Villagers believe officials pocketed the rest of the money.
When the local reservoir overflowed, the water rushed down the river toward the school. It filled up like a tank. The original playground might have been large enough to hold the excess water, but it had shrunk after teachers built new homes on the plot. They stood like a wall and helped trap the floodwater.
"It's like the school sat at the bottom of a wok. There's no way for the water to get out," Sun said. "The parents are devastated. Most of us have only one child. The police, government officials, if they cared enough, so many children wouldn't have to die."
洛杉矶时报：学生家长讲述沙兰镇中心小学遭洪水袭击过程
多维社记者纪军编辑报导／北京时间6月10日下午，黑龙江省宁安市沙兰镇中心小学遭遇洪水袭击，当地官方确认已有99人死亡，10人失踪，但当地居民说死亡人数要比官方公布的数字多出一倍，约有200名小学生遇难。当地居民在接受洛杉矶时报采访时说，在洪水袭击中心小学后，他看到四处都漂着小孩的尸体，也看到有的老师站在房顶而不管自己学生的死活。
洛杉矶时报发自北京的报导说，当地时间6月10日下午2时，沙兰镇居民孙世祥(译音)在看到河水迅速上涨后，就向中心小学跑去。孙世祥冲进学校时，发现他的独生子已被困在三年级的一个教室内。洪水很快就涨到腰部，并仍在继续上涨。
在接下来的3个小时中，孙世祥和他的儿子紧紧抓住教室窗户上的铁条，等待着洪水消退。然而在他们走出教室时，共有352名小学生的沙兰镇中心小学，已有一多半学生被洪水淹死了。
孙世祥的妻子孙秀芹(译音)在家中接受洛杉矶时报记者电话采访时说：“当我们强行冲出来时，到处都漂着小孩的尸体，惨不忍睹。”虽然孙秀芹10岁的儿子被救了出来，但她8岁的外甥和9岁的侄女都被洪水淹死了，“家长们都疯了，每个人都在哭。”
洛杉矶时报说，中国官方已将6月10日惨案归因于暴雨所造成的200年来罕见的洪水。当地官方最新确认说，已有99人死亡，其中95人为学生，4人为村民。但学生们家长们说，死亡人数要比官方公布的多出一倍。
沙兰镇居民说，当地太平间里，绝大多数冰柜里都不止放着一具尸体，而是两具。另外还有一些学生失踪了，或已被家长埋葬了。沙兰镇32岁的宁学斌(译音)说：“我们认为至少有200名学生被淹死，他们(当地官方)却说没有这么多人，因为他们不想让外界知道真相。”宁学斌的侄女也在教室中被淹死。
在中国，致命洪水是一场每年都会发生的天灾，在沙兰镇小学惨案发生前，从5月起开始的雨季，已在南方造成200多人死亡，数百万人受到影响。现在，沙兰镇的居民和其它地区的人都对政府是否已采取准确的预防措施表示怀疑。沙兰镇学生家长们说，大自然只是这场惨案的部分原因。
宁学斌说：“这并不只是一起自然灾难，也是一起人为的灾难。疏散学生只需要几分钟的时间，若是这样做了他们今天可能都会活着。”
其它学生家长在接受电话时说，在洪水袭击沙兰镇中心小学前40分钟，河上游的村民曾试着打电话警告沙兰镇，但学校里没人接听电话。而沙兰镇政府一名工作人员在接听电话时却说，现在太忙了办不了这事。电话又打到镇派出所，得到回答是正在办案解决不了。
一名36岁的曾姓的妇女告诉洛杉矶时报：“教师和校长，所有人都有手机，他们可以轻易地警告学生，但他们为何什么都没这样做？这些人还是人么？”曾姓妇女11岁的儿子因及时跑出教室而幸免遇难，在家长赶到学校时，孩子一直在河水中。曾家几个邻居的三个儿子都被洪水淹死了。
愤怒的学生家长说，当地官员不但在关键时候没有伸手援助，他们甚至还进行阻拦。在一些学生家长骑着摩托赶向学校时，其中几人还遭到警察拦截，并因无照驾驶而被罚款。
曾姓妇女说，如果这些家长不被警察截住，就会有更多的家长及时赶到学校，来帮助老师救学生。曾家人说，当地派出所负责人赶到学校时，只是站在那儿观看，他身上穿着救生衣，当一名家长问他能不能借用一时，他说不，于是家长只能没穿救生衣就跳进洪水中去找自己的孩子。
中国官方媒体报导说，沙兰镇党委书记和派出所所长已因未能及时组织抢救而接受调查。洛杉矶时报报导说，但最令家长们震惊的是，当一些教师在洪水抢救学生时，另一些人则爬到更高处而丢弃了自己的学生。
孙秀芹透露，沙兰镇中心小学一年级只有一个女孩活了下来，“当我们赶到学校时，我们看到他们的老师都站在房顶上，他们怎么能只顾自己而不管那些7、8岁孩子的死活呢？”
============
褐锈曰:
我们也是有孩子的父母了，看这样的新闻，心都在流血。发生这样的事，省长市长镇长全应该他妈的去坐牢。
Is it too hard to be a human? or simply an animal with a heart?
It's easy to get rich. But to be respected, it's much harder, if possible.
I do feel ashamed.
posted by Hecius at 10:20 AM
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