(AFP) – May 26, 2008

WUFU, China (AFP) — Grieving parents lined the school courtyard, sitting on small chairs their children once occupied as they demanded the government account for the tragedy that left 129 pupils dead.

Officials on Monday came to the Fuxin Number Two primary school and pledged to investigate why the building collapsed in this month's earthquake that rocked southwest China.

Many believe their children's deaths were the result of sub-standard construction.

Parents, clutching portraits of their sons and daughters, pointed to the remains of the three-storey school, built in 1989, saying the beams were flimsy, the concrete sandy, and the mortar and reinforcing steel inadequate.

"His classroom was on the ground floor and still he couldn't get out in time, the building came down so fast," said Zhen Xiying, 34-year-old mother of Chen Yida, who was 10 when he perished.

"So many children's bodies were found near the door, the only door in or out, it's clear they were all trying to escape when they were killed."

The Fuxin school is in the small city of Wufu, which was devastated in the May 12 quake, leaving almost all of the more than 35,000 residents homeless.

Yet not far away, in neighbouring An county, the Sangzao Middle School stands in stark contrast to Fuxin Number Two.

While much of that town has also been reduced to rubble and most residents are homeless, not one of the 2,323 children at the school was injured, said principal Ye Zhiping.

The school's four-storey buildings show few cracks, with tiles dislodged here and there. The playground has been given over to tents where residents are offered post-trauma counselling.

Ye said when he became principal in 1995, he began a three-year renovation programme of the original building, which was constructed in 1983.

Toilets were rebuilt, balconies and stairwells reinforced, and monthly emergency evacuation drills introduced, he said, adding: "This was all according to local regulations for all schools."

Referring to Fuxin Number Two, he said: "They didn't take a long time to build their school. In the 1980s architectural standards were low and it was the done thing to use flimsy materials for the walls and windows.

"From the 1990s things changed, standards were upgraded. I know that because I checked, and spent 400,000 yuan (about 60,000 dollars) on upgrading this school.

"For instance, it's a basic requirement to have two exits," he said, adding that he believed all his pupils survived "because this school is safe."

Back at the Fuxin Number Two school, officials from the municipal government of Mianzhu county took samples from the mass of concrete, bricks and metal now piled where the school stood and promised to report back within a month.

Of the 309 children in class at the time of the quake, 127 died immediately, and two died later of their injuries.

Two municipal officials, who declined to give their names to AFP, begged the Fuxin parents to "cooperate with the government" during the investigation.

The earthquake has so far claimed 65,000 lives with 23,000 still missing.

Most heartbreaking is the number of children killed when their schools crumbled as they took their afternoon nap when the quake struck at 2.28 pm.

The government says almost 7,000 schools were destroyed and more than 11,000 pupils and their teachers were killed.

Many angry parents across the vast quake-hit area of Sichuan province are blaming poorly constructed buildings -- and corruption they allege saw funds and materials siphoned off -- leaving schools to be built of what they call "tofu dregs".

"We're waiting for the government to give us an explanation, and to give us justice," said Huang Ziyin, holding a large black-framed photograph of her 13-year-old son, Ding Yuntao.

"Our children didn't deserve to die. We believe the main school building was dangerous, and we can see that none of the surrounding buildings collapsed."

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