As of 10 A.M. local time Monday morning, 11 individuals were dead a result of a middle school gymnasium’s roof collapsing in the northeastern Chinese city of Qiqihar, a major metropolis of four million in the Heilongjiang province within the region commonly known as Manchuria.
It was believed that heavy, construction-related materials had been negligently abandoned on the roof of the gym. Compounding the issue was the locally heavy rainfall which apparently waterlogged the misplaced items.
As is common in many countries where negligence is suspected in the cause of safety-related disasters, those in charge of the construction project are being detained until the investigation can be completed.
China has had a recent string of deadly, seemingly fluke disasters. Yet upon further study, it has become abundantly clear that the nation has its lax safety standards to thank for these incidents.
Last month, an explosion at a barbecue eatery in the northwestern part of the country resulted in the tragic deaths of 31 individuals. That accident followed a coal mine collapse in Inner Mongolia which killed 53 in February of this year, and a Beijing hospital inferno in April which killed 29, the deadliest blaze to hit the capital in 20 years.
The country was also under scrutiny last November for not bringing in emergency crews to save tenants trapped in a burning apartment building in the far-western city of Urumqi because of its “zero covid” quarantine policy.
President Xi Jinping has since called upon all regions to “screen for and rectify all types of risks and hidden dangers.”