Build quality calls for more attention

A restaurant in Xiangfen county, North China's Shanxi province, collapsed on Saturday, claiming 29 lives. Another 28 people were injured, seven of whom are in a serious condition. The two-story building in the village crumpled during an 80th birthday celebration for a local resident.

The tragedy happened nearly six months after a hotel collapsed in the city of Quanzhou, East China's Fujian province. By a sad coincidence, the death toll in that tragedy was also 29.

Our sympathy goes to those who lost loved ones, who will no doubt find it hard to comprehend how their kin lost their lives in a restaurant where they were enjoying a celebratory meal. We cannot but ask if there are any more such structures that might someday catch revelers unawares, taking them to another world or leaving them paralyzed for the rest of their lives.

The Quanzhou hotel was designated as a site for close contacts of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infections at the time. And the investigation revealed that the hotel's expansion and renovation, in violation of relevant rules, had compromised its build quality, which ultimately led to its collapse.

The cause of the collapse of the restaurant is still under investigation. But it seems that the two-storey building was licensed for use as a restaurant although not built for that purpose.

The provincial authorities have promised that the cause of the collapse will be made public in a timely manner and so will the penalties should anyone be found responsible. And immediately after the disaster, the Shanxi provincial government launched a province-wide campaign to check public venues for possible safety hazards.

The screening of possible dangerous buildings of public venues is necessary. But the question is whether there are such buildings that are potential safety hazards elsewhere in the country. Is it necessary for buildings to be checked nationwide to see if they pose a risk?

To prevent any such tragedy from happening again, a further question is whether there is a rule for regular safety checks of buildings that have outlasted their intended life span or used for non-intended purposes. There should be.

In addition, reports suggest the construction quality watchdogs lack the necessary teeth to bite and even take bribes from realty developers to cover up construction quality problems.

Whatever the cause for the collapse of this restaurant, it should serve as a warning to governments at all levels that no efforts should be spared for a closer look at the quality of old and new buildings for public venues, the build quality of apartment buildings should also be checked.

Rules must be tightened to make sure that all building quality problems are addressed timely. Those who deliberately compromise the quality of buildings in whatever manner must be brought to justice.