Hi everyone!
I know that some of you more well-informed individuals have heard already about the huge fire outbreak in the Shanghai downtown. I'm okay and everyone on is campus is fine. The fire began mid-afternoon in a 10 story apartment complex in the center of the Jing'an district静安区 (famous for its Jing'an Temple 静安寺).
Apparently, some of the scaffolds caught on fire and set the uppermost floor on fire. From there, the fire spread and the building was quickly evacuated. However, this evacuation did not keep 90 people from being injured and 14 deaths (a number of victims that could've been avoided).
If you don't know something about construction in China, scaffolds are not made of steel, but bamboo. Our guess (although the press would never say so) is that a worker was smoking and failed to be careful about putting out his cigarette, but the news has not mentioned the cause of the fire. The fire was put out around 7 pm last night. During the day, I saw a huge chimney of black smoke through the bathroom window (I live on the 15th floor of my building) and only at dinner did I find out what happened. I do not live far away from the Jing'an district - only 3 subways stops, so the smoke was more than visible (although the building was not). People stormed the area like tourists, taking pictures and trying to get a better view -- a reaction that I very much dislike. People dying is not something to gawk at. Where the rest of the survivors are going is beyond me. It is hard to find space in Shanghai. That being said, the building won't take long to be reconstructed. Things are built quickly in Shanghai and things move on.
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