URBAN NOMADS IN SHANGHAI

On Monday we were sitting in our apartment not knowing which disaster was happening two streets away – until sirens started howling and wads of smoke darkened the sky. A fire in a high-rise building, the worst in Shanghai in recent years, killed at least 53 people (inofficial number 100) The 85-meter-high residential building at the intersection of Jiaozhou Road and Yuyao Road was home to more than 440 people, mainly retired teachers. According to local newspapers the scaffolding was paved with bamboo boards and surrounded by nylon netting - both highly flammable - which led to the fire spreading quickly.
China already has very strict fire safety regulations for buildings. While we calculate with 30 minutes for the fire brigade to arrive in Europe, the arriving period here is 2 hours. This is one reason why staircases in apartment buildings here look like concrete bunkers.

view from our apartment