Ya'an: Lessons applied to new quake zone

A landslide caused by aftershocks on the road connecting Lingguan town with Baoxing county, in Ya'an. PHOTOS BY WANG JING / CHINA DAILY

Unlike in the Wenchuan earthquake, when many school buildings collapsed and a large number of students were killed, few such tragedies were seen after the Ya'an quake.

The earthquake in Wenchuan prompted nationwide reinforcement projects for school buildings, and new schools constructed in quake zones were designed to resist higher-magnitude earthquakes.

The Central Middle School of Baoxing County is one of the schools rebuilt after the 2008 quake.

Constructed with a donation of about 100 million yuan ($16 million), the new school was designed to withstand magnitude-8 earthquakes, headmaster Li Fanglin says. The school opened in 2010, after one year of construction.

During the recent quake, more than 500 teachers and students were in the school's eight buildings. It took them less than five minutes to evacuate, and only one person was injured, Li says.

Experts inspected the school the next day and found that all buildings are usable, Li says.

"Undoubtedly, the disaster was an unusual experience for every one of us," he says.

"But we have learned from it."

The school's staff and students were calmer and better organized during the evacuation this time, Li says.

"We've been carrying out emergency drills every year to let the teachers and students know how to better evacuate and protect themselves," Li says.