A little girl was nearly crushed when chunks of concrete dropped onto the ground after a roof collapsed and landed just inches away from the playing child.

CCTV footage shows the moment the little girl narrowly misses the potentially deadly accident outside her home in Huaibei, in eastern China's Anhui province on April 24.

The clip shows the girl, dressed in pink trousers and a red jacket running towards the property when the eaves of the roof collapse and fall to the ground with a loud crash.

The eaves crumbled and fell at the girl's feet, causing her to burst into tears.

The frightened toddler, seemingly unsure which direction to run and with no adult in sight, simply stood frozen to the spot, loudly crying until her father runs outside and picks her up.

Her father said the girl was thankfully unharmed apart from a few minor scratches.

He said that the eaves had collapsed due to continuous heavy rains that apparently caused the material to break apart.

China has a reputation for poor quality building construction work, with structures that suddenly collapse while in use, known as 'Tofu buildings'.

The term is widely used as a metaphor for shoddy work often encouraged by rampant corruption where money is constantly skimmed away for everything else, including bribes. This results in poor quality work, with everybody turning a blind eye to substandard work.

The father later shared the video as a reminder to everyone to be extra careful during rainy days.