How a mountain of construction debris buried scores of people and buildings in Shenzhen, China
- 8 years ago
SHENZHEN, CHINA — Either because of corruption or simple negligence, officials chose to ignore the 380,000 square metres of construction debris that towered over the outskirts of one of the most populous cities in China. That is, until everything came crashing down on Sunday, when a massive wave of mud and construction debris blanketed 33 buildings and scores of people who were unable to escape fast enough.
According to officials at the Ministry of Land and Resources, the incident was not a natural landslide. Instead, a mound of construction waste on a hill in Shenzhen's outskirts toppled over and collapsed, sending a mudslide down the length of the hill that crashed into the buildings below.
Several years ago, the location of the landslide was a quarry. But because dumpsites were needed for the debris generated by the frenzy of construction in Shenzhen, the quarry was converted into a dump for construction waste. Dirt was stacked on top of the natural hill the quarry sits on, and bulldozers added more soil onto the mound every day.
Reuters reports that the mound of construction waste eventually became too tall and its angle too steep, which led to its collapse.
The dump site should have been closed this past February, but local workers told a local news portal run by authorities in Shenzhen that debris continued to be dumped there each day.
Residents are pointing their fingers at gross negligence on the part of local officials. Given that a government-run newspaper even printed a warning last year that Shenzhen was running out of dumping space, it's hard to imagine no one was aware of this ticking time bomb.
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According to officials at the Ministry of Land and Resources, the incident was not a natural landslide. Instead, a mound of construction waste on a hill in Shenzhen's outskirts toppled over and collapsed, sending a mudslide down the length of the hill that crashed into the buildings below.
Several years ago, the location of the landslide was a quarry. But because dumpsites were needed for the debris generated by the frenzy of construction in Shenzhen, the quarry was converted into a dump for construction waste. Dirt was stacked on top of the natural hill the quarry sits on, and bulldozers added more soil onto the mound every day.
Reuters reports that the mound of construction waste eventually became too tall and its angle too steep, which led to its collapse.
The dump site should have been closed this past February, but local workers told a local news portal run by authorities in Shenzhen that debris continued to be dumped there each day.
Residents are pointing their fingers at gross negligence on the part of local officials. Given that a government-run newspaper even printed a warning last year that Shenzhen was running out of dumping space, it's hard to imagine no one was aware of this ticking time bomb.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off.
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Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj
Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f
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