Fire victims deserve sympathy

Three retailers who ran to their shops to save their money after a wholesale agricultural market in Shanghai caught fire were caught in the flames and burned to death on Sunday. The tragedy has prompted some netizens to ridicule their desperate attempt to save their money. But the retailers' action should be seen sympathetically because they wanted to retrieve what could have been their life's savings, says an article on gmw.cn. Excerpts:

Many of the retailers in the market ran to save their lives while others rushed in to save their source of livelihood. Later, shop owners in other markets said they don't know what they would do in a similar situation. A trip to any market would reveal that their little savings are the only thing many retailers can count on to feed and improve the life of their families.

Most of the retailers in the burnt market are farmers from suburban areas. Since a few of them didn't even have regular income before saving money for years to rent a small stall, their desperation can be understood. They may haggle over every penny in business, but they spend generously on their children's education in the hope of providing them a better life.

Such people can neither avail of urban citizens' welfare nor hope for better comfort even if they return to the countryside. They can only hope to find a place to live in cities and improve their livelihood through sheer hard work.

Some netizens see the deaths as avoidable, but they fail to realize that the retailers' lives depended on the money, so they had to try to save it.

(China Daily 01/11/2013 page9)