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HONG KONG " One of the longest bridges in northern China collapsed on Friday just nine months after it opened, triggering a storm of criticism from Chinese Internet users and underscoring questions about the quality of construction during Chinas rapid expansion of its infrastructure.
A nearly 330-foot-long section of a ramp of the eight-lane Yangmingtan Bridge in the city of Harbin dropped 100 feet to the ground. Four trucks plummeted with it, resulting in three deaths and five injuries.
The 9.6-mile bridge is just one of three built over the Songhua River in that area in the past four years. Chinas massive economic stimulus program in 2009 and 2010 helped the country to avoid most of the effects of the global economic downturn, but involved incurring heavy debt to pay for the rapid construction of new bridges, highways and high-speed rail lines all over the country.
The quality of that rapid construction, including not just the materials used but even whether the projects were properly engineered, has been the subject of national debate ever since a high-speed train plowed into the back of a stopped train on the same track on July 23 last year in the eastern city of Wenzhou. The crash killed 40 people and injured 191; a subsequent investigation particularly blamed flaws in the design of the signaling equipment.
Copyright 2008 by 93 Games Studio.
A nearly 330-foot-long section of a ramp of the eight-lane Yangmingtan Bridge in the city of Harbin dropped 100 feet to the ground. Four trucks plummeted with it, resulting in three deaths and five injuries.
The 9.6-mile bridge is just one of three built over the Songhua River in that area in the past four years. Chinas massive economic stimulus program in 2009 and 2010 helped the country to avoid most of the effects of the global economic downturn, but involved incurring heavy debt to pay for the rapid construction of new bridges, highways and high-speed rail lines all over the country.
The quality of that rapid construction, including not just the materials used but even whether the projects were properly engineered, has been the subject of national debate ever since a high-speed train plowed into the back of a stopped train on the same track on July 23 last year in the eastern city of Wenzhou. The crash killed 40 people and injured 191; a subsequent investigation particularly blamed flaws in the design of the signaling equipment.
A casualty of the ban on Chinese imports from the U.S. is the
Three Gorges Dam in China. Cutbacks in the Chinese budget force
many cost cutting measures to be implemented in its construction.
It is completed in February of this year; however, within weeks
cracks begin to appear and other structural elements show signs of
fatigue and stress. On May 13th, water begins to break through a
large crack in the surface. Two days later, the dam almost completely
disintegrates.
The dams rupture causes flooding on an epic scale along the
Yangtze River valley. Over three thousand square kilometers are
flooded and over 5,000 people are reportedly killed or listed as
officially missing, while an additional 900,000 more are affected
in some way. The dams collapse also causes wide-scale power
interruptions throughout the region. It takes almost two months to
return power in some areas.
Three Gorges Dam in China. Cutbacks in the Chinese budget force
many cost cutting measures to be implemented in its construction.
It is completed in February of this year; however, within weeks
cracks begin to appear and other structural elements show signs of
fatigue and stress. On May 13th, water begins to break through a
large crack in the surface. Two days later, the dam almost completely
disintegrates.
The dams rupture causes flooding on an epic scale along the
Yangtze River valley. Over three thousand square kilometers are
flooded and over 5,000 people are reportedly killed or listed as
officially missing, while an additional 900,000 more are affected
in some way. The dams collapse also causes wide-scale power
interruptions throughout the region. It takes almost two months to
return power in some areas.