127 killed as mudslides engulf town's residents
Source: Xinhua/Shanghai Daily |
August 9, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MUDSLIDES engulfed a town in northwest China yesterday, killing at least 127 people and leaving nearly 1,300 residents missing as rescue teams dug out crushed homes and tried to blast away debris clogging a river.
Another 117 were injured, including 29 in serious condition, as of last night. In addition, 1,242 have been rescued from debris or brought to safety from places such as tops of buildings.
The mass of floodwater, mud and rocks hit Zhouqu County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gannan in Gansu Province, a region dominated by steep and barren hills, after torrential rains late on Saturday.
Runoff from the downpour built up behind a landslide on the Bailong River, which runs through the main town in Zhouqu.
The clogged river in the narrow valley then spilled over its banks and caused flooding and mudslides that struck the town after midnight, smashed into a small hydro station, and left at least 127 dead.
"I heard the fierce storm around 11:30pm, later I found that a mud-rock flow had hit our residential building," Peng Wei, head of the county's fire department, said. "The cars in the yard had all been damaged."
"Someone said the fifth floor of my residential building had been submerged. People are busy looking for family members and friends," said Li Tiankui, a resident who lived near the Bailong River.
"Several small landslides have occurred in the valley before, but they didn't arouse much attention," Li said.
Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the scene. There were 1,294 people missing, and it was unclear how many of them had fled and survived.
One village with 300 homes was buried.
"It's very hard to locate the people washed away by floods. It's hard to say what their chances of survival are," He Youxin, a People's Armed Police officer organizing rescue efforts, said. "Since excavators can't reach the site. We can only use spades and our hands to rescue the buried."
At one point, the flooding covered about half of the Zhouqu county seat, which has about 40,000 residents.
Rescue efforts
The floodwater reached up to three stories high on some buildings, enveloping them in mud unlikely to yield many survivors.
The Lanzhou Military Area Command in the provincial capital sent 2,400 soldiers to help rescue efforts. More than 1,000 firefighters and militia members from the surrounding area were also sent in.
"Now the sludge has become the biggest problem to rescue operations. It's too thick to walk or drive through," said the head of the county, Diemujiangteng.
The devastation was worsened by the blockage of the river upstream, which created a 3-kilometer-long lake that overfilled and sent massive waves of mud, rocks and water crashing down on the town, ripping houses from their foundations and tearing six-story apartment buildings in half.
Explosive experts were flying to the scene by helicopter to demolish the blockage and safely release potential floodwaters.
About 19,000 people living in two towns below the blockage were moved away.
Pictures from Zhouqu showed mud and water covering town streets, motor vehicles being swept downstream and troops frantically digging through debris to hunt for victims, including a boy pulled from a shattered house. The mud dumped on the streets was up to 2 meters deep.
Water level in the town was falling.
Two-thirds of the county's power was out and some communications links were down as a result. The provincial power authority has sent more than 40 people with electricity generators to the site. But they were blocked about 68km away from the county seat by landslides covering the access roads.
Zhouqu County covers 3,010 square kilometers and has a population of 134,700, about 33 percent of whom are Tibetans.
Roads Cleared
Debris which had been blocking major roads leading to Zhouqu County in Gansu Province has been cleared, local authorities said yesterday.
Workers were struggling to repair the roads in the county seat of Chengguan Township, as operations had been hindered by floodwater up to 4 meters deep, but the main roads leading to the county's government buildings should be reopened today, a spokesman said.
Roads leading in and out of the county were reopened by 12:30pm yesterday, but there was still a risk of sporadic landslides and falling stones smashing into automobiles traveling along the roads, said a transport ministry official.
Farms Ruined
China's Ministry of Agriculture said the mudslides in Gansu Province affected more than 200 hectares of farmland and swept away more than 10,000 head of livestock.
The ministry has sent 80 tons of disinfectant, 2,000 sets of sanitizing equipment and 20,000 sets of protective gear to Zhouqu in south Gansu.
The ministry said the disaster severely damaged not only houses but also agricultural infrastructure.
The ministry has sent experts to the area to assist work to prevent epidemics caused by dead animals while working out plans on how to restore agricultural production.
Rescue Funds
China's Ministry of Finance has allocated 500 million yuan (US$73 million) in emergency aid to fund rescue efforts following the mudslides in northwest China.
The money will support the relocation and relief efforts for landslide victims, hygiene and disease control, reconstruction of local infrastructure, rebuilding of houses and the clearing of the barrier lake which was formed by the massive mudslides, ministry officials said.
Another 117 were injured, including 29 in serious condition, as of last night. In addition, 1,242 have been rescued from debris or brought to safety from places such as tops of buildings.
The mass of floodwater, mud and rocks hit Zhouqu County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gannan in Gansu Province, a region dominated by steep and barren hills, after torrential rains late on Saturday.
Runoff from the downpour built up behind a landslide on the Bailong River, which runs through the main town in Zhouqu.
The clogged river in the narrow valley then spilled over its banks and caused flooding and mudslides that struck the town after midnight, smashed into a small hydro station, and left at least 127 dead.
"I heard the fierce storm around 11:30pm, later I found that a mud-rock flow had hit our residential building," Peng Wei, head of the county's fire department, said. "The cars in the yard had all been damaged."
"Someone said the fifth floor of my residential building had been submerged. People are busy looking for family members and friends," said Li Tiankui, a resident who lived near the Bailong River.
"Several small landslides have occurred in the valley before, but they didn't arouse much attention," Li said.
Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the scene. There were 1,294 people missing, and it was unclear how many of them had fled and survived.
One village with 300 homes was buried.
"It's very hard to locate the people washed away by floods. It's hard to say what their chances of survival are," He Youxin, a People's Armed Police officer organizing rescue efforts, said. "Since excavators can't reach the site. We can only use spades and our hands to rescue the buried."
At one point, the flooding covered about half of the Zhouqu county seat, which has about 40,000 residents.
Rescue efforts
The floodwater reached up to three stories high on some buildings, enveloping them in mud unlikely to yield many survivors.
The Lanzhou Military Area Command in the provincial capital sent 2,400 soldiers to help rescue efforts. More than 1,000 firefighters and militia members from the surrounding area were also sent in.
"Now the sludge has become the biggest problem to rescue operations. It's too thick to walk or drive through," said the head of the county, Diemujiangteng.
The devastation was worsened by the blockage of the river upstream, which created a 3-kilometer-long lake that overfilled and sent massive waves of mud, rocks and water crashing down on the town, ripping houses from their foundations and tearing six-story apartment buildings in half.
Explosive experts were flying to the scene by helicopter to demolish the blockage and safely release potential floodwaters.
About 19,000 people living in two towns below the blockage were moved away.
Pictures from Zhouqu showed mud and water covering town streets, motor vehicles being swept downstream and troops frantically digging through debris to hunt for victims, including a boy pulled from a shattered house. The mud dumped on the streets was up to 2 meters deep.
Water level in the town was falling.
Two-thirds of the county's power was out and some communications links were down as a result. The provincial power authority has sent more than 40 people with electricity generators to the site. But they were blocked about 68km away from the county seat by landslides covering the access roads.
Zhouqu County covers 3,010 square kilometers and has a population of 134,700, about 33 percent of whom are Tibetans.
Roads Cleared
Debris which had been blocking major roads leading to Zhouqu County in Gansu Province has been cleared, local authorities said yesterday.
Workers were struggling to repair the roads in the county seat of Chengguan Township, as operations had been hindered by floodwater up to 4 meters deep, but the main roads leading to the county's government buildings should be reopened today, a spokesman said.
Roads leading in and out of the county were reopened by 12:30pm yesterday, but there was still a risk of sporadic landslides and falling stones smashing into automobiles traveling along the roads, said a transport ministry official.
Farms Ruined
China's Ministry of Agriculture said the mudslides in Gansu Province affected more than 200 hectares of farmland and swept away more than 10,000 head of livestock.
The ministry has sent 80 tons of disinfectant, 2,000 sets of sanitizing equipment and 20,000 sets of protective gear to Zhouqu in south Gansu.
The ministry said the disaster severely damaged not only houses but also agricultural infrastructure.
The ministry has sent experts to the area to assist work to prevent epidemics caused by dead animals while working out plans on how to restore agricultural production.
Rescue Funds
China's Ministry of Finance has allocated 500 million yuan (US$73 million) in emergency aid to fund rescue efforts following the mudslides in northwest China.
The money will support the relocation and relief efforts for landslide victims, hygiene and disease control, reconstruction of local infrastructure, rebuilding of houses and the clearing of the barrier lake which was formed by the massive mudslides, ministry officials said.
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