After Bund tragedy, Shanghai starts erring on safe side
City takes its first tentative steps towards better crowd management and emergency response plans in municipal push for ‘safety first’
Will the Shanghai government learn from the fatal New Year's Eve stampede on the Bund? Promises usually come quickly from politicians after a major tragedy, but after a few months, delivery takes a back seat to more immediate concerns.
The city government appears to be determined to make changes. The first meeting attended by mayor Yang Xiong after the week-long Lunar New Year holiday was devoted to safety management, specifically for industry, although he spoke about his concerns on a broad level, according to a statement of the city government website.
"Safety is the foundation of all work and is a job of most importance," he told the gathering of several dozen top municipal officials on Wednesday. Yang said cadres must regard safety as the "bottom line" in their work and warned that the biggest risk was officials slacking off.
Thirty-six people died after hundreds of people on stairs to a terrace on the riverfront began pushed against each as they tried to either move up or down. According to an investigation report released last month, four Huangpu district officials were to blame because they failed to precisely assess risks, adequately communicate with the public, effectively prepare for the crowds and carefully monitor the situation.
Yang urged officials at all levels to commit to keeping the city safe. Rules must be implemented thoroughly, especially where accidents were most likely to happen, such as densely populated areas, construction sites, subway stations, oil pipelines, and storage sites for dangerous chemical materials or fireworks.
Authorities at various levels must ensure emergency plans were drafted and response drills carried out, he said. Coordination across departments would be boosted and databases created for preventing, monitoring, alerting and managing accidents, Yang said.
Since the stampede, the authorities have been nervous over events expected to draw crowds. Several annual lantern festivals were cancelled and, for the first time, job fairs were told to limit the number of attendees to one person per 0.75 square metre.
But the cancellations have irked some members of the public. The city's decision to axe a festival at the scenic Yuyuan Garden triggered outcries from residents and tourists. The 20-day event, recognised by the state as part of China's non-tangible cultural heritage, has been staged annually, attracting more than one million visitors.
Residents said cancelling the festival was an act of "giving up eating for fear of choking".
Major temples also toed the official line and restricted entrants hoping to burn incense for good luck on the eve of Lunar New Year. In previous years, residents could line up outside a temple but this year had to buy tickets in advance.
A cynic might argue that officials, though deeply saddened by the Bund fatalities, are taking safety more seriously because another big accident would end their careers or land them in jail. Whatever the motivation, the city is only going to get more crowded. It should not have taken the tragedy to get officials focused on solutions.
