Canada-aided wood-framed primary school in quake zone to enroll students

Source: Xinhua | 05-13-2009 09:02

CHENGDU, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Xiang'e Primary School, China's first school with wood-framed buildings in the quake-hit Sichuan Province, will enroll about 540 students in September, officials said Tuesday.

The wood and building technologies for building the school are donated by Canada. Construction is scheduled to be completed in June in Dujiangyan City, one of the worst-hit areas in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12 last year.

Many students and faculty were buried under the devastated buildings in the school, about 100 km from the epicenter.

Jerry Dickison, an expert in charge of the school project, said wood-framed buildings can withstand strong earthquakes and consume less energy and time than concrete housing structures.

Wood frame structures are flexible, built to resist lateral force and dissipate energy during earthquakes. The buildings are common in North America and Japan, he said.

The Canadian federal government and the provincial government of British Columbia (B.C.) announced last June an 8-million-Canadian-dollar (about 8 million U.S. dollars) project to provide wood frame buildings for communities damaged in the quake in Sichuan.

Three wood-frame projects are underway in the province, including the Xiang'e Primary School in Dujiangyan, a special education school for the disabled in Mianyang City, and an elderly care center in Beichuan County.

Editor:Liu Anqi