School operators to be urged to check concrete walls after girl crushed to death in quake
(Mainichi Japan)
TOKYO -- The education ministry is set to ask elementary and junior high school operators across the country to examine concrete walls on their premises after a girl was crushed to death under such a wall in Osaka Prefecture following a powerful quake.
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi made the announcement at a news conference following a Cabinet meeting on June 19.
The ministry will issue a notice urging school operators to inspect concrete-block walls to see if they conform to the Building Standards Act and other relevant laws and regulations.
The move comes after Rina Miyake, a 9-year-old fourth-grade girl, was fatally crushed under a falling wall outside Takatsuki Municipal Juei Elementary School in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, after the earthquake struck.
Moreover, the ministry will dispatch officials and experts to the elementary school to investigate the cause of the wall collapse.
"We'd like to confirm the facts and consider our response to the matter," Hayashi said.
(Japanese original by Takuya Izawa, Tokyo City News Department)
