Woman dies after building collapse
By Xu Chi |
December 17, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A WOMAN died and her roomate was still trapped in the rubble after a five-story residential building in east China's Ningbo city collapsed yesterday.
The local government had ordered residents to evacuate the building after long cracks appeared on the structure at around 9:20am.
The two women, who lived on the second floor, could not be reached by telephone when the evacuation order was given, said Yang Xufeng, an official with the Ningbo Fire Bureau.
Yang told CCTV they kept calling after the collapse and finally a woman picked up the phone, but it was difficult to hear what she was saying. The woman's position was eventually located at around 4pm, Yang said.
She was brought out an hour later by firefighters. She was found to be seriously injured and was sent to a nearby hospital but died from her injuries at 7:30pm.
Late last night, firefighters were still trying to reach the other woman trapped. Her boyfriend, who had rushed to the scene, told China News Service he had managed to call her at around 6:30pm and kept encouraging her to hold on.
A third woman might be trapped in the debris, according to a reporter from China National Radio, but that had not been officially confirmed.
A total of 18 families lived in the building, built in 1989, which collapsed shortly after midday as some residents were still moving their belongings out, witnesses said.
Ningbo's housing authority said last night that the building's base had no damp-proofing coating, as was common practice in the late 1980s, China News Service said.
Decades of soaking by rain had undermined the underground bearing wall, leading to the collapse.
The authority has ordered a safety overhaul of apartment complexes of similar structure built about the same time.
Residents in the same community in the city's Jiangdong District have also been evacuated, officials said.
The residents said their houses suffered similar cracks.
Some said they had been complaining about problems, including subsidence and cracks, for more than two years.
The local government had ordered residents to evacuate the building after long cracks appeared on the structure at around 9:20am.
The two women, who lived on the second floor, could not be reached by telephone when the evacuation order was given, said Yang Xufeng, an official with the Ningbo Fire Bureau.
Yang told CCTV they kept calling after the collapse and finally a woman picked up the phone, but it was difficult to hear what she was saying. The woman's position was eventually located at around 4pm, Yang said.
She was brought out an hour later by firefighters. She was found to be seriously injured and was sent to a nearby hospital but died from her injuries at 7:30pm.
Late last night, firefighters were still trying to reach the other woman trapped. Her boyfriend, who had rushed to the scene, told China News Service he had managed to call her at around 6:30pm and kept encouraging her to hold on.
A third woman might be trapped in the debris, according to a reporter from China National Radio, but that had not been officially confirmed.
A total of 18 families lived in the building, built in 1989, which collapsed shortly after midday as some residents were still moving their belongings out, witnesses said.
Ningbo's housing authority said last night that the building's base had no damp-proofing coating, as was common practice in the late 1980s, China News Service said.
Decades of soaking by rain had undermined the underground bearing wall, leading to the collapse.
The authority has ordered a safety overhaul of apartment complexes of similar structure built about the same time.
Residents in the same community in the city's Jiangdong District have also been evacuated, officials said.
The residents said their houses suffered similar cracks.
Some said they had been complaining about problems, including subsidence and cracks, for more than two years.
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