The powerful earthquake that hit China on May 12 was bad enough in itself. The Sichuan province was devastated.
Buildings, houses, roads, and bridges collapsed into heaps of rubble in an instant.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking results of the earthquake is the destruction of many school buildings, killing over 10,000 children as the buildings fell flat to the ground.
Numerous families lost their only child. And because the government allows only one child per household, many parents feel an even deeper sense of loss.
The earthquake is not the only tragedy in this disaster.
The Chinese people live with pandemic corruption that has infiltrated every level of the government and society.
It is now becoming clear that the deaths of many of the children were caused as much by the rife corruption as by the earthquake itself.
Most of the government buildings remained standing, although they were damaged. However, that was not the case with the schools.
The school buildings were built on faulty foundations with sub-standard materials using shoddy construction methods - all of which passed inspection because the inspectors were corrupt and took bribes from the construction companies.
The buildings would normally have been made strong enough to withstand an earthquake of this magnitude. At least, they would not have "pancaked" onto the children, and many, if not most, of their lives would have been spared.
The school buildings were so poorly constructed that the Chinese have even given them a name - tofu buildings, because they are no sturdier than soybean curd.
The state-run media is cooperating with government officials in censoring the full story from being told.
Nevertheless, what is known is that a terrible tragedy was made far worse because the school buildings were not built to code.
