Water park replaces emergency shelter

Residents living near Taiyanggong Park, Chaoyang district, have complained after the area which is set aside for emergency shelter has been given over to a commercial water park.

The Global Times found on Sunday that nearly half of the park is now a construction site, which has been fenced off. On the grass nearby, there are many emergency shelter signs, which point to emergency water or electricity supplies.

In case of emergency, the park should have the capacity to shelter 180,000 people.

An employee at the park's reception office confirmed that a water park is under construction, but said he did not know whether the project had violated any regulations.

A local resident, surnamed Zhang, said that since the area is for emergency use, he does not think it should be occupied for commercial purposes.

Another park user, an elderly man surnamed Li, who was flying a kite, said that it is wrong for anyone to make money at the expense of the public interest.

"If there's an earthquake, where can we go for protection?" he said.

There was a water park at the same site last summer, Li said.

"The lawn was destroyed to build a water park last summer and the water park was torn down when the summer was over," he said, adding that the new turf was not laid until around May this year.

"What a pity that the turf was destroyed so soon," said Li.

A construction worker in the park told the Beijing News that the water park, due to be completed in early July, will be demolished after the summer and new turf planted again.

Calls to the Taiyanggong street office, which supervises the park, went unanswered on Sunday, but a media officer from the street office, surnamed Xu, told the Beijing News Friday that he did not know about the water park.

"Taiyanggong Park is reserved as an emergency shelter. And we will investigate this," said Xu.

Beijing is still short of emergency shelters, and many residents do not know where they are located.

According to the Legal Daily in May, there are 71 emergency shelters in Beijing with space for 2.3 million residents, 10 percent of the capital's population.

At the north side of Chaoyang Park, site of another emergency shelter, signs point to the emergency area. A staff member said there are water pipes and toilets under the ground near the signs.

"If there's a catastrophic earthquake, they will be put into use," he said.

The water park at the Taiyanggong Park Sunday. Photo: Guo Yingguang/GT