超高層ビルが突然揺れる　中国・深セン、都心パニックに

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国南部・深センにある超高層ビルが１８日、突然揺れ出し、パニックとなった買い物客らが建物内から避難する騒ぎがあった。（写真は揺れが起きた中国・深センの超高層ビル「賽格広場」の入り口）
　このビルは、２０００年に完成した高さ約３００メートルの「賽格広場」。中国屈指の急成長都市である深センの中心部、福田区に位置し、大手家電製品店やさまざまなオフィスが入居している。
　ビルは午後１時ごろに揺れ始め、屋内にいた人々は外へと避難。通りでは、歩行者たちが、がくぜんとしてその様子を見守った。
　緊急管理当局は中国版ツイッター「微博（ウェイボー）」で、同市では地震は起きておらず、ビルの揺れの原因を調査していると明らかにした。
　福田区はその後の発表で、ビル内にいた人々が全員無事に避難したと説明。ビルのさらなる揺れは検知されず、内部や外壁にも損傷はなかったとし、専門家の調査結果として、「ビルの主要構造や周辺環境に安全面での異常は確認できなかった」と述べた。
　人口１２００万人を超える都市の中心部にあるこれほどの規模の超高層ビルが危険建築物と判明した場合、当局が今後どのような対応を取るかは不明。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/05/19-14:09）

One of China's tallest skyscrapers was evacuated Tuesday after it began to shake, sending panicked shoppers scampering to safety in the southern city of Shenzhen.
The near 300-metre (980 ft) high SEG Plaza inexplicably began to shake at around 1pm, prompting an evacuation of people inside while pedestrians looked on open-mouthed from the streets outside.
The building was sealed shut as of 2:40pm, according to local media reports.
Completed in 2000, the tower is home to a major electronics market as well as various offices in the downtown of one of China's fastest-growing cities.
Emergency management officials are investigating what caused the tower in Shenzhen's Futian district to wobble, according to a post on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.
After checking and analysing the data of various earthquake monitoring stations across the city, there was no earthquake in Shenzhen today, the statement said.
The district said in another statement late Tuesday that everyone inside had been safely evacuated and that no further movements of the building had been detected.
Experts found no safety abnormalities in the main structure and surrounding environment of the building, and the interior and exterior components of the building appeared undamaged, the district said.
It was not immediately clear how authorities will handle a dangerous tower of its scale in the heart of a city of over 12 million people.
Bystander videos published by local media on Weibo showed the skyscraper shaking on its foundations as hundreds of terrified pedestrians ran away outside.
SEG has been completely evacuated, wrote one Weibo user in a caption to a video of hundreds of people milling about on a wide shopping street near the tower.
The building is named after the semiconductor and electronics manufacturer Shenzhen Electronics Group, whose offices are based in the complex.
It is the 18th tallest tower in Shenzhen, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat skyscraper database.
Chinese authorities last year banned the construction of skyscrapers taller than 500 metres, adding to height restrictions already enforced in some cities such as Beijing.
The new guidelines for architects, urban planners and developers aimed to highlight Chinese characteristics and also banned tacky copycat buildings modelled after world landmarks.
Five of the world's tallest skyscrapers are located in China, including the world's second-tallest building, the Shanghai Tower, which stands at 632 metres.
Shenzhen is a sprawling metropolis in southern China, close to Hong Kong, which has a booming homegrown tech manufacturing scene.
Many Chinese tech giants, including Tencent and Huawei, have chosen the city to host their headquarters.
It is also home to the world's fourth-tallest skyscraper, the 599-metre Ping An Finance Centre.
Building collapses are not rare in China, where lax building standards and breakneck urbanisation lead to constructions being thrown up in haste.
Last May, a five-storey quarantine hotel in the south-eastern city of Quanzhou collapsed due to shoddy construction, killing 29.
The devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake caused over 69,000 deaths and the disaster ignited a storm of public controversy over poorly constructed school buildings -- dubbed 'tofu dregs' -- which collapsed killing thousands of students.