[奚兆永]

Especially tragic is the plight of so many schoolchildren, buried under collapsed school buildings. At least eight schools collapsed and at least 2,000 children are missing and feared dead. The tragedy is compounded by the fact that under China’s one-child policy many grieving families have lost their only child.

”I'll tell you why the school collapsed,” said an elderly man beside the ruins. ”It was shoddily built. Someone wanted to save money.” [The Standard, 15 May 2008]

Another man, whose only son was killed in the earthquake, said the collapse of the school building was a ”man made” disaster.

”Look, the pillars were filled with sand and mud, not cement. There is no concrete to support the iron bars. This is a typical tofu project,” the man told the South China Morning Post, using the common term for shoddy or defective building work.

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