May 12 One year anniversary of the sichuan earthquake

i thought i'd write a short post today as it's the one year anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake here in China.  I hadn't really realized until recently just how much controversy is surrounding the government's handling of the situation.  Directly after the earthquake authorities were praised somewhat for sending aid so quickly to the region, but have since aroused a lot of anger.  

Many of the 69,000 people who were killed and 374,000 people injured in the quake were school children, and a disproportionate number of schools crumbled that day.  Apparently, officials were receiving the building materials for new schools then selling off the steel reinforcement columns, and other materials etc. and pocketing the money.  The buildings were constructed far below building codes and completely unsafe.  The corruption was so widespread that literally hundreds of schools crumbled while other nearby buildings were far less damaged.  Rather than calling out the people responsible for this, the media is quite silent on the issue due to pressure from the authorities.  

wikipedia seems to have a good summary of the story.  Here's a short excerpt: 

In July 2008, local governments in the Sichuan Province coordinated a campaign to silence angry parents whose children died during the earthquake through monetary contracts. If the parents refused, officials threatened that they would receive nothing. Although Chinese officials have advocated a policy of openness in time before the Olympic Games, the pressure on parents to sign demonstrates that officials are determined to create an appearance of public harmony rather than investigate into the corruption or negligence of the construction of schools. The payment amounts vary by school but are roughly the same. In Hanwang, parents were offered a package valued at 8,800 USD in cash and a per-parent pension of nearly 5,600 USD. Many parents said they signed the contract, even if no real investigation ensues. Furthermore, officials have continued used traditional methods of silencing: riot police officers have broken up protests by parents; the authorities have set up cordons around the schools; and officials have ordered the Chinese news media to stop reporting on school collapses.^[21]

In July 25, 2008, Liu Shaokun (刘绍坤), a Sichuan school teacher, was detained for disseminating rumors and destroying social order. Liu’s family was later told that he was being investigated on suspicion of the crime of inciting subversion. Liu, a teacher at Guanghan Middle School, Deyang City, Sichuan Province (四川省德阳市广汉中学), traveled to heavily hit areas after the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, took photos of collapsed school buildings, and put them online. In a media interview, he expressed his anger at “the shoddy ‘tofu’ buildings.” Liu was detained on June 25, 2008 at his school. He was ordered to serve one year of re-education through labor (劳动教养) (RTL). Under RTL regulations, public security authorities may issue an order to anyone to serve up to four years of RTL without trial or formal charge. After being denied several visits, the family turned to international human rights organizations, who reported the case and urged the government to release him, which drew attention in the international community. On September 26, 2008, Liu was finally released to service his sentence outside of RTL.^[22]

The government also had refused to release the official death count of students for the whole past year.  Finally just last Thursday they did. if you want to read more there's a lot of information on line.  I was surprised it wasn't blocked for me here.   it seems hit and miss what the government chooses to block.  You tube, for example, has been blocked for a couple of months again now due to a video showing chinese police beating tibetans during the riots in tibet before the olympics last summer.  Also it's impossible to look up anything on falun gong--the semi religious group (more of a philosophy i think than a religion) that has been so severely oppressed and abused by the government.  It is strange at times to have the government so blatantly controlling information. I don't think the Chinese government is so different from ours in this respect, but they do go about it in different ways.