21 missing in landslide as rainfall still pounds
Source: Xinhua/Shanghai Daily |
July 28, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A LANDSLIDE caused by rains in southern China left 21 people missing yesterday, adding to a growing death toll from China's worst flood season in a decade, which is expected to worsen with heavy rains forecast across the country.
Rescuers searched for the 21 people missing after a landslide in Hanyuan County in the southwestern province of Sichuan yesterday morning. Rocks and mud buried 58 homes and about 4,000 villagers were evacuated from their homes.
About 100,000 cubic meters of rock and mud slid down Ermanshan Mountain near Shuanghe Village around 5am yesterday, smashing into the brick houses at the foot of the mountain, local officials said.
Armed police combing the rubble saved three survivors - including a 80-year-old - and helped thousands of villagers relocate.
Heavy rains have pounded large swaths of central and southern China, flooding riverside towns, causing landslides and mud flows and raising key rivers to danger levels.
On Monday, a pre-dawn mud flow near the China-Myanmar border in southwestern Yunnan Province left 11 injured and another 11 missing. The search for the missing - including a 4-year-old Chinese girl and four Myanmar nationals - continued yesterday.
The missing were employees of a local hydropower company and their family members, who were sleeping in makeshift tents on the riverbank of the Migu River in Drung-Nu Autonomous County of Gongshan, according to an initial investigation.
Rescuers feared that the missing were washed away by the rushing torrents of the Migu River.
Hundreds killed
Floods this year have already killed at least 823 people, left 437 missing and caused tens of billions of yuan in damage, the State Flood Control and Drought Prevention reported.
It said two dozen major rivers had risen beyond their warning levels.
Three-quarters of China's provinces have been plagued by flooding and 25 rivers have seen record-high water, the flood prevention agency said. The damage totaled 154.1 billion yuan (US$22 billion).
More torrential rains are expected for the southwest, southeast and northeastern parts of the country through today, the National Meteorological Center said.
Rescuers searched for the 21 people missing after a landslide in Hanyuan County in the southwestern province of Sichuan yesterday morning. Rocks and mud buried 58 homes and about 4,000 villagers were evacuated from their homes.
About 100,000 cubic meters of rock and mud slid down Ermanshan Mountain near Shuanghe Village around 5am yesterday, smashing into the brick houses at the foot of the mountain, local officials said.
Armed police combing the rubble saved three survivors - including a 80-year-old - and helped thousands of villagers relocate.
Heavy rains have pounded large swaths of central and southern China, flooding riverside towns, causing landslides and mud flows and raising key rivers to danger levels.
On Monday, a pre-dawn mud flow near the China-Myanmar border in southwestern Yunnan Province left 11 injured and another 11 missing. The search for the missing - including a 4-year-old Chinese girl and four Myanmar nationals - continued yesterday.
The missing were employees of a local hydropower company and their family members, who were sleeping in makeshift tents on the riverbank of the Migu River in Drung-Nu Autonomous County of Gongshan, according to an initial investigation.
Rescuers feared that the missing were washed away by the rushing torrents of the Migu River.
Hundreds killed
Floods this year have already killed at least 823 people, left 437 missing and caused tens of billions of yuan in damage, the State Flood Control and Drought Prevention reported.
It said two dozen major rivers had risen beyond their warning levels.
Three-quarters of China's provinces have been plagued by flooding and 25 rivers have seen record-high water, the flood prevention agency said. The damage totaled 154.1 billion yuan (US$22 billion).
More torrential rains are expected for the southwest, southeast and northeastern parts of the country through today, the National Meteorological Center said.
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