Heilongjiang launches safety inspections after deadly gymnasium roof collapse

Authorities in Heilongjiang province have launched an extensive inspection drive to detect and eliminate major safety hazards after a gymnasium roof collapsed on Monday evening in Huanan county of Jiamusi, leaving three dead and two others injured.

The campaign focuses on gymnasiums, sports and fitness venues, theaters and museums as the northeast province experiences severe weather and more blizzards are expected, according to the provincial housing and urban-rural development department and emergency management department.

Professionals, including architects, structural experts and safety testing personnel across the province have been asked to put forward suggestions to help eliminate potential risks.

A resident surnamed Liu in Huanan said, "All local fitness centers are closed and the snow has prompted suspension of classes in primary schools, middle schools and kindergartens, as well as off-campus educational institutions from Monday to Wednesday."

Authorities carried out inspections in major markets, targeting safety hazards and providing guidance on snow removal to property owners.

Similar inspections were carried out across the province to ensure public safety. On Tuesday evening, a roof collapse was also reported at a funeral home in Qitaihe, an eastern city in the province, though there were no injuries, according to a statement released by the city's civil affairs bureau.

Jinlin district of Yichun, another city in Heilongjiang, has sent 26 teams comprising 107 members to inspect possible safety issues in local sports stadiums, educational institutions, agricultural greenhouses, buildings housing livestocks on farms, offices, dilapidated homes, and welfare institutions such as nursing homes.

The inspection covered 276 locations in the district, and 29 problems were identified and rectified, according to local authorities.

The province issued a red alert on Sunday for blizzards, the most severe warning in China's four-tier color-coded weather alert system, according to the local meteorological service. Multiple cities in the province experienced heavy snowfall and the cold wave will continue in Northeast China over the next two days, bringing gales and snowfall in Heilongjiang.

Weather authorities in both Huanan county and Jiamusi city issued red alerts for blizzards on Sunday. It snowed in Huanan from midnight of Monday to 8 am on Tuesday.

"In this round of cold wave, Northeast China received wet snow, which is much heavier than dry snow," Wu Rui, chief forecaster at the Shanghai Meteorological Service, told ThePaper, a Shanghai-based media outlet. "The weight of 50 centimeters of wet snow in an area of 100 square meters can reach 4 metric tons."

"However, whether the factor directly caused the collapse in Huanan still needs to be investigated," he added.

Wu Jiming, a construction engineer at Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, told Beijing News that "because of the uneven accumulation of ice on the building, the pressure at individual points would have been very severe".

He added that in extreme meteorological conditions, inspection and maintenance should be more comprehensive.

As of Wednesday, official investigation into the gym roof collapse in Huanan was still underway.