See this picture?  What you see is what's left of the Xinjian Primary School in Dujiangyan, China, in the aftermath of the Sichuan Earthquake.  Notice how a kindergarden building, at left, along with a hotel in the background, are barely damaged  The question of why so many schools crumbled during the recent Sichuan earthquake, is coming to the fore.

From the article:

"This is not a natural disaster," said Ren Yongchang, whose 9-year-old son died inside the destroyed school. His hands were covered in plaster dust as he stood beside the rubble, shouting and weeping as he grabbed the exposed steel rebar of a broken concrete column. "This is not good steel. It doesn't meet standards. They stole our children."

An incredible story (taken from the article):

"SHIFANG, China -- At the moment of greatest despair, Wang Zhijun tried to kill himself by twisting his neck against the debris.

Breathing had become harder as day turned to night. The chunks of brick and concrete that had buried him and his wife were pressing tighter by the hour, crushing them. Their bodies had gone numb.

Then there was the rain, sharp and cold, lashing at them through the cracks.

"I don't think I can make it," he told his wife, Li Wanzhi, his face just inches from hers, their arms wrapped around each other.

She sensed he was giving up. "If God wants to kill us, he would have killed us right away," she said. "But since we're still alive, we must be fated to live."

And they lived. They were pulled from the rubble of their collapsed six-story workers' dormitory 28 hours after last Monday's earthquake, spared the end met by at least 32,000 others."

It's been a horrific month for China and Myanmar, as the human toll from each of their disasters has reached biblical proportions.  For many Chinese parents who lived through the ordeal in Sichuan province, their suffering is especially cruel, as many of the victims of this week's quake were children.  Some reports have stated that the toll could be as high as 900 children, and that figure is expected to climb.

What makes this so heartbreaking is that most families in China are only allowed to have a single child.  As a new parent myself, empathizing with them, it's just too earth-shattering to live through.

The New York Times reports that despite China's unusual openness having this disaster reported on, some details have been covered up with regards to accounting for child deaths.  Parents have even been kept away from affected areas, for as long as two days for suspicious reasons.  Some believe that bodies were taken away and accusations are beginning to mount with regards to the quality of school buildings.

One mother's account made me cry.  She found her daughter's body, without bruises or injury, but with fingernails missing.  She believes her daughter suffocated to death trying to claw out of the rubble.  There are other accounts that'll just make you weep.

The rage and despair these mothers and fathers are going through must not go unnoticed.  And if human negligence assisted in human loss, those responsible should be sought after and dealt with.  But whatever you believe in, keep these families in your hearts and prayers, and hug your children just a little bit tighter.