Eat ♥ Play ♥ Love: *China investigates 7,000 school collapses* (By Foreign affairs editor Peter Cave and wires)

A top Chinese official says shoddy workmanship and
substandard building materials may have played
a part in the collapse of more than
7,000 schools during last week's earthquake.

The disproportionately high number of schools
destroyed has shocked and angered many Chinese.
Yesterday hundreds of angry parents
took part in a rare public protest,
demanding to know why so many schools
collapsed while nearby buildings did not and
demanding punishment of those responsible.

The official Chinese news agency
today quoted He Guoqiang,
secretary of the Communist Party's
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection,
as saying that new schools in
quake-stricken areas must be better built.

"Unfortunately we can't rule out that
there may have been situations where people
scrimped on workmanship and stinted on materials
during the construction process and
if so we will deal with any such problems
strictly after an investigation," he said.

Thousands of aftershocks and a forecast of more rain
compounded the difficulties for military,
government and private workers trying to deliver aid and
ensure millions get shelter as the focus
turned inevitably from rescue to relief.

An estimated 5 million people were left homeless
by the 7.9-magnitude quake.
In the countryside, where countless homes
are too damaged or too unsafe to live in,
many farmers now live in encampments of makeshift shelters.
Officials said 3 million tents were needed.

"The biggest hardship we have is not having a tent,"
said Wang Falan, who lives with her extended family of 11
in two makeshift shelters.
"It is also the lack of rice and cooking oil.
I don't know what we'll do if we have to keep living like this."

Premier Wen Jiabao ordered the supply of
250,000 temporary housing units -
simple steel structures normally used by construction workers -
to the quake area by June 30 and
the number should reach 1 million i
n three months, state media said.

China started three days of national mourning on Monday,
with flags raised at half-mast and
public entertainment suspended.

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