What would happen if there was an emergency situation at your place ?

Every teacher is concerned for the safety of their students. Events in China over the last year or two have seen students die because of:
•   fire
•   earthquake
•   flooding
•   attacks involving weapons
Following each event the government has announced that it is committed to making schools a safe place and has required regulatory bodies to be unceasing in their efforts to ensure that schools are safe places .

My college is a large (15,000 students) modern complex opened 3 years ago. During the Sichuan earthquake many buildings in the city were damaged.So what do I find at my college?
 
- no recognised Alarm Bell for emergency situations
- no bells at all can be heard in the dormitories
- no emergency procedure to be followed
- no evacuation practice
- nobody knows what a ‘lockdown’ is
- no emergency lighting in the stairwells or foyers of a 6
- 5 out of 6 exits bolted from the outside during study time in classrooms
- bolting of exits means an exit time of more than 6 mins from some rooms on Level 6

My accommodation also causes concern. My room is in one of the girls’ dormitories (tell you about that some other time!) on Level 1.

If I have to evacuate then:
- the window is no use because it has security bars
- the door at the end of the corridor has to be locked at all times for security reasons .. and I have trouble finding the right key in daylight in normal circumstances
- a roller door at the entrance is pulled down at 11pm every night and a security man has to raise it at 6am because, like any big roller door, it is not easy for a female to lift open
- the girls would have to evacuate our 6 level building through one exit because the one at the other end of the building is permanently locked

While we are encouraged to not make waves while in China I think, when students lives are put at risk,  this is an issue that should be confronted.

I would be interested to know about the situation in other schools/colleges/universities 


 
   
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Oooooh...interesting topic.

I think serious disaster is one of those things in China where all you can do is just try not to think about it very hard:

- I tend to assume that essentially ALL post-1980 construction in China is probably howlingly sub-standard. The buildings will do much more harm than good.

- I'm resigned to the reality that the Chinese tend to start planning for something the moment it starts actually happening, and I wouldn't expect much in the way of "preparedness".

- And can you imagine trying to evacuate ANY Chinese city of any significant size? You ain't exactly gonna find no taxi, blood...and the roads will be a free-for-all anyway.

No. Don't go there. You don't want to think about this. Just relax. Have another beer.

We actually have some of these things (fire alarms, drills etc), presumably at the request of the foreign partner of the joint venture...but the norm seems to be fire exits kept permanently locked for 'safety' reasons, bars across doors and windows that prevent any chance of escape and other such nonsense, so I kind of agree with Raoul, best not to worry yourself over it - you are never gonna change anything!

However,if you really want to wind yourself up, read some of the related stories on ChinaSmack!

Locked emergency exits were one reason many died in the Karamaay fire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Karamay_fire

your room is in the girls dormitory

why are you thinking about other things?

your room is in the girls dormitory

why are you thinking about other things?

Jokes aside, aren't you a little uncomfortable with this setup?  I'm not worried for the girls' safety, but rather your own.  A whisper campaign against you, say, or a student threatening to concoct an accusation if you don't improve her grade.

This is one aspect of life in the muddled kingdom that I'll never get used to.

   They lock fire exits for reasons of security and safety. Bullshit. They lock the doors and leave them locked because the security guards are too bloody lazy to walk around and open and close them in the morning and evening. That's all it is, is laziness. When there are fires, earthquakes and such, you can be damn sure the security people don't go 'round and open all the doors and hold them open so that other people can get out alive. They're the first ones out, if they're awake. 

Quote from: kitano on May 31, 2010, 04:17:29 PM

your room is in the girls dormitory

why are you thinking about other things?

Jokes aside, aren't you a little uncomfortable with this setup?  I'm not worried for the girls' safety, but rather your own.  A whisper campaign against you, say, or a student threatening to concoct an accusation if you don't improve her grade.

well for myself i work in a small place so for anything like a fire/earthquake etc i could just run outside in about 20 seconds

my worst case scenario for running into trouble with CCP is that i am told to leave china and never come back....I have the money for a plane fare to England if that happens. i can't see any prison/death penalty situations occuring for me unless china goes to shit. and if china goes to shit i don't think it would be safe in europe either....

i would be pretty uncomfortable in your situation, too many variables....


totally agree about health and safety generally in china. i see it as another thing like their government. because china is so big and powerful at the moment, people forget that it is still a developing country

yeah, we can live close to how we lived back home, and in a lot of ways better than at home but we are on the same salaries as dentists etc

things like health and safety for workers are still 10 or 20 years away

This is one aspect of life in the muddled kingdom that I'll never get used to.

   They lock fire exits for reasons of security and safety. Bullshit. They lock the doors and leave them locked because the security guards are too bloody lazy to walk around and open and close them in the morning and evening. That's all it is, is laziness. When there are fires, earthquakes and such, you can be damn sure the security people don't go 'round and open all the doors and hold them open so that other people can get out alive. They're the first ones out, if they're awake. 

if my salary was 2000rmb a month or less i'd be lazy too

If my stairway were blocked, my only choice would be a jump from my 3rd floor balcony to the roof of a single story building next door.  If that didn't break a a leg or ankle, I'd get a second chance to hurt myself jumping to the street.

The one thing I like about this house and my previous apartment - I could pile all my stuff in one room, set it on fire, and sit in another room reading a book.  It's all concrete, stone, and brick.  There's nothing flammable in the structure itself.  Fire isn't really much of an issue.

Collapse is the one thing that does worry me.  Being inside a woodframe house would likely give better odds of survival than being in this brickpile if a collapse happened.  Any know if Guangdong has earthquakes? 


If you ever are in a school/store and there's a fire or earthquake, watch where the security guards and long-time employees run and follow them.  They know which doors aren't locked. 

To answer your statement xwarrior, I don't think we should be making waves about this topic. Of course, in many ways, it is our duty to flag these matters up (even though they should be obvious enough, in a country that has its fair share of natural disasters) as caring, professional teachers and pillars of the community. But, needless to say, very often I have found that in China a foreigner, even making humble and compassionate suggestions, can be put in the leaders' bad books just for creating more work for them!

I would suggest to raise it in an email and keep a copy of it. But after that not much else that can be done. There are so many glaring dangers that are asking for calamity here. You would think that what has happened before might be enough to see a raft of heavily enforced 'health & safety' style rules to improve most buildings/exit/escapes.

Ultimately, it might take a while longer before such measures are fully implemented. In the meantime, keep your shoes and a tin hat next to your bed in case of emergency! 

your room is in the girls dormitory

why are you thinking about other things?

As I sit in my room, gazing out at the girls in the block in the other wing as they beautify themselves in front of the mirror before going out for the day, I wonder about that myself!

Maybe I should see a doctor ...

Quote

your room is in the girls dormitory

why are you thinking about other things?

As I sit in my room, gazing out at the girls in the block in the other wing as they beautify themselves in front of the mirror before going out for the day, I wonder about that myself!

Maybe I should see a doctor ...

a sexy doctor

An eye doctor. If you don't stop it, you'll go blind

My school dorm in Changchun would be locked via a nice big chain at night. I would have had to jump from a second story window to escape.

My apartment in Changchun had bars on all the windows; if there had been a fire, I'd have died.

It's a real problem.