According to Yang Wenrong, a 64 year-old resident of Xiyuan Village who felt the 2.7 magnitude earthquake, this is not the first time that quakes have occurred. “There were more serious ones before in which my closet moved and my floor cracked,” said Yang.

Although the mine has been inactive since the 1990s, the area has been mined for coal since the 11th century. The heavily mined region dramatically increases the risk of more serious cave-ins in the future. An unidentified Xiyuan Village resident, who happens to be a former employee of Beijing Haohua Energy Resource’s topographic survey team, said he worries a more severe earthquake could send a landslide toward villages near the bottom of the mountains.

Although a 2011 plan was passed to relocate the 45,000 residents of Fangshan, to date, less than 2,000 residents have been moved out.

The post Small Earthquake in Beijing Blamed on Nearby Collapsed Coal Mine appeared first on The Nanfang.

A 22 year-old mother and her child were safely rescued from the ruins of the building, and are said to have suffered fractured bones from the incident. All 15 registered residents of the third-floor apartments have been accounted for.

At the time of the collapse, renovation work was being performed on the ground floor. Although all eight construction workers have been accounted for, rescue workers claim to have identified signs of life still trapped beneath the rubble.

Police have detained the landlord of the building, a tenant, and the construction workers renovating the building. There has not been any official word from the government as to what caused the collapse.

Watch the surveillance video below:

China has had its fair share of fatal building collapses.

Last month, one person died after a four-story building under construction in Puzi, Yunnan, collapsed on top of dozens of workers. In February, six people died when the upper three floors of a six-story residential building collapsed in Pingxiang, Jiangxi. Renovations were being completed on the fourth floor, causing the building’s upper levels to collapse.

In May 2015, nine people died after a nine-story building collapsed in Guiyang, due to a landslide triggered by a rainstorm. The year before that, another three-story building collapsed in Shanghai, killing two people due to a gas explosion. In March 2014, a man died during a roof collapse in Zhanjiang, while in September, a hotel under construction in Shenzhen collapsed.

Here are more photos of yesterday’s collapse in Shanghai:

The post WATCH: Three-Story Shanghai Building Collapses appeared first on The Nanfang.

Balconies from adjoining units at floors three to seven completely separated from the building, exposing the interior of the residential units from the outside. The apartments are said to be 20 years old.

A witness from a nearby restaurant said that prior to the collapse there was construction work going on outside the building.

iFeng reported that three of the injured victims and those who died were workers who were outside the building when the balconies collapsed. The other injured victim is reported to have fallen from one of the apartments. An investigation into the incident is said to be pending.

Here’s a video taken at the scene:

And more photos:

This is not the first time that a balcony has collapsed in China. Last month, a fourth-story balcony collapsed, due to renovations in the apartment below. In July, another three balconies fell in Fujian, killing two people and injuring several others.

The post Rows of Balconies Fall Off Apartment Building in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

Four people in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang Province were stunned when the ground underneath their feet gave way as they stood waiting at a bus top.

A security camera recorded the moment at 5:40pm on August 22 on Guxiang Boulevard in Harbin. One woman is seen clinging to a pipe after the collapse, while another woman and two men fell to the bottom of the three meter-deep hole.

Just prior to the collapse, a crowd of people are seen walking through, indicating this could have been even worse.

Some people at the scene helped the victims get out of the ten square meter hole, while others on the stairwell simply watched and then walked away.

The victims were sent to a Harbin hospital where they were treated for various injuries including sprains and abrasions. Police cordoned off an area 100 meters around the sinkhole as workers attempted to make repairs.

There still has been no official word as to what caused the sinkhole, although an investigation is said to be pending. The hole was repaired the day after it appeared, and reports say business in the area has returned to normal.

Sinkholes in China have become a regular occurrence.

This past May, two pedestrians were injured when a  two meter-deep sinkhole appeared beneath their feet in Duchang, Jiangxi Province. Jiangxi also had another sinkhole back in March when three students were swallowed by a three meter-deep hole in Pingxiang.

In June 2013, a grandmother and her grandson were swallowed up by a three meter-deep hole in Shenzhen. In June 2010, a women was swallowed up by a hole in Chengdu after rains had been pelting the city for days.

Here’s the video of the incident in Harbin:

The post Video: Sidewalk Opens Up and Swallows 4 Stunned People in Harbin appeared first on The Nanfang.

Eighty members of a choir in Guizhou were singing a song when the floor underneath them suddenly gave way, plummeting them into a cavern below. The eerie video of the collapse has been circulating widely online in China.

Miraculously, only two people were seriously injured.

Here’s a video of the incident:

The post Stunning Video of a Stage Collapsing While 80 Choir Members Were Mid Song appeared first on The Nanfang.

The 96 people who have had to leave their homes were put up in the nearby Huilong Hotel. Traffic police closed Yunshan Avenue for several hours on April 13 and the hotel was demolished that afternoon.

The cause of the collapse is being investigated, but it is thought to have been shoddy building work. Residents had been complaining about how noisy the hotel’s construction  had been.

But most importantly, nobody was killed, unlike in the sinkhole incident in Shenzhen last month.

The post Hotel in Guangzhou collapses, thirty-five homes nearby evacuated appeared first on The Nanfang.

Not so for this threat: the random occurrence of the ground just suddenly giving way. It happened yesterday afternoon in Shenzhen, sucking up a security guard who just happened to be walking past.  He died from his injuries. Take a look at this shocking video:

The incident, which happened in Futian District, opened up a 5-by-8-metre sinkhole that was apparently 4 stories deep.

This isn’t the first time the ground has suddenly given way in China. One of the most recent cases happened in Guangzhou, when a building suddenly collapsed into a sinkhole.

Be careful out there.

Source: Beijing Cream

The post Watch: Ground Collapses in Shenzhen, Sucking in a Guy Just Passing By appeared first on The Nanfang.

A cracked wall in Dalang Village

Shortly after 11 p.m., residents of Dalang Village were woken by the sound of the 70 sqm building collapsing. It’s located at No. 108 Fu’an Road. There were no casualties but a subsequent investigation showed that the collapse may well have been caused by an overloaded septic tank.

Several of the 300 residents of the building told media of their shock at what happened.

It was the fourth such case in the city’s Guanhui area in a week, according to Dongguan Daily.

Netizens pointed out that the area has become somewhat prone to such collapses.

One Sina Weibo user expressed fear that the Mayan apocalypse had been delayed for a year. Another opined that we should just be grateful nobody died. Another suggested building a bigger septic tank.

Most residents of the building are thought to have been working on the subway system, raising further questions about the living conditions of migrant workers in China’s major cities.

The post Dongguan residential building collapses in the middle of the night, septic tank to blame appeared first on The Nanfang.