Fire consumes migrant workers' homes

Fire consumes migrant workers' homes

• Source: Global Times
• [08:26 March 16 2011]
• Comments

The fire engulfing a Daxing company burns for 10 hours before firefighters manage to put it out Monday. Photo: IC

By Yang Jie

The inferno that engulfed a Daxing company early Monday morning has left hundreds of migrants who rented rooms there homeless. Meanwhile, a migrant school is appealing for help for affected children.

"Most of the children have returned to school today after we sent some stationery and clothes to them," said Jia Haixia, principal of the Xingzhi New Citizen School in Daxing.

About 40 students' families were affected by the fire at the Chengnan Weixin Waste Material Recovery Company, whose business is limited to renting rooms to recycling collectors.

Now the school is seeking donations online, with requests for 40 sets of stationery, clothing and textbooks at 230 yuan ($35) per set, three-month's worth of emergency subsidies for 33 families (49,500 yuan per month) and clothing and daily necessities.

As of Tuesday, 19 sets and subsidies for the first month had been pledged, according to Ma Li, who works for the same social welfare program responsible for the school. Those wishing to donate can visit t.sina.com.cn/newcitizenschool.

"I have never seen such a scary fire," recalled Li Xiaohong, 38, from Henan Province. "Fortunately, no injuries or deaths were caused."

Li has worked in the recycling business for five years in Beijing. Like other vendors, his six-member family was sleeping when the fire started at about 1 am in the recycling company in Xindian village, Huangcun township.

"We just rushed out immediately when we heard the cries outside," said Li. "We had no time to even bring some clothes along, let alone rescuing other belongings." He told the Global Times that due to strong winds, it took over 10 hours before the fire was brought under control.

The fire left a total of 56 families homeless, Li said.

The company has put the vendors and their families up in a nearby hotel and given them a daily stipend of 20 yuan per person, but Li hoped that they would quickly come up with a compensation plan so that they can move on with their lives.

"It's infeasible to go back to my hometown, since the whole family has moved here and there's no farmland left," said Li.

"[The government] will coordinate and solve the matter, but no concrete measures are available for the time being, as far as I know," said Yu Tie, director of the Daxing district government's news department.

The Beijing Municipal Fire Bureau said Tuesday that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.