Landslides claim 37 in areas lashed by rains
Source: Xinhua/Shanghai Daily |
July 14, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Rain-triggered landslides left 37 people dead and 37 missing in China's Yunnan, Sichuan and Hunan provinces as of yesterday, local authorities said.
In Yunnan, 13 people were killed and 31 others went missing after landslides and floods hit Xiaohe Township in Zhaotong City early yesterday.
By last night, 43 people had been injured in the disaster.
The provincial government sent a relief team and relief supplies to Zhaotong. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has also sent a work team to help with the relief effort.
In neighboring Sichuan Province, a rain-triggered landslide left eight people dead in Yandai Village, Jiulong County, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, at 1:45am.
In Sichuan's Xuyong County, rescuers said they had recovered the bodies of six and were searching for one more after a landslide hit Sima Village at 4am.
In the central province of Hunan, 10 people were killed in two separate landslides on Sunday and yesterday and five others remained missing. Among the victims were four children aged 1 to 6.
Meteorological authorities yesterday forecast that rainstorms will continue to batter flooded areas in central and eastern China near the Yangtze River through Friday.
Heavy rain will hit some regions in the provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, and is also expected in Chongqing City.
In the first 13 days of July, torrential rains have caused 107 deaths and economic losses of 19.8 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion), the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
In another development, the plan to demolish the leaking dike of a river in east China was suspended yesterday after torrential waters broke blasting wires.
Armed police participating in the operation in Tongcheng City of Anhui Province had planned to blast a leaking dike at about 4:30pm on a swollen branch of the Yangtze to prevent flood water from inundating villages.
However, water levels quickly rose in the afternoon and tore through wires connecting explosives prepared for demolishing the Qingcao Township Dike with a 200-meter-long breach on the Dasha River.
More than 1,000 residents along the river had been evacuated prior to the operation.
Authorities said they plan to repair the wires after the waters recede while reconsidering whether to conduct the blasting operation.
Meteorological authorities have forecast another round of heavy rains in the area this week, stymieing flood-control efforts.
Continuous downpours have killed two people and disrupted the lives of more than 4 million residents in Anhui, as of yesterday noon.
At a press conference in Beijing yesterday, Ministry of Health spokesman Deng Haihua said the flood-hit regions had not reported any cases of epidemic or public health emergencies.
Meanwhile, the waters in a reservoir near the far western city of Golmud began to subside yesterday after hundreds of workers and soldiers finished digging a diversion channel, an official at the Qinghai Province water bureau said.
The reservoir at one point swelled to more than a meter above its warning level, accoridng to the Golmud city government website.
Over the weekend, about 10,000 residents were evacuated as soldiers transported sandbags, rocks and dirt and used bulldozers to dig the emergency waterway, the website said.
In Yunnan, 13 people were killed and 31 others went missing after landslides and floods hit Xiaohe Township in Zhaotong City early yesterday.
By last night, 43 people had been injured in the disaster.
The provincial government sent a relief team and relief supplies to Zhaotong. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has also sent a work team to help with the relief effort.
In neighboring Sichuan Province, a rain-triggered landslide left eight people dead in Yandai Village, Jiulong County, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, at 1:45am.
In Sichuan's Xuyong County, rescuers said they had recovered the bodies of six and were searching for one more after a landslide hit Sima Village at 4am.
In the central province of Hunan, 10 people were killed in two separate landslides on Sunday and yesterday and five others remained missing. Among the victims were four children aged 1 to 6.
Meteorological authorities yesterday forecast that rainstorms will continue to batter flooded areas in central and eastern China near the Yangtze River through Friday.
Heavy rain will hit some regions in the provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, and is also expected in Chongqing City.
In the first 13 days of July, torrential rains have caused 107 deaths and economic losses of 19.8 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion), the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
In another development, the plan to demolish the leaking dike of a river in east China was suspended yesterday after torrential waters broke blasting wires.
Armed police participating in the operation in Tongcheng City of Anhui Province had planned to blast a leaking dike at about 4:30pm on a swollen branch of the Yangtze to prevent flood water from inundating villages.
However, water levels quickly rose in the afternoon and tore through wires connecting explosives prepared for demolishing the Qingcao Township Dike with a 200-meter-long breach on the Dasha River.
More than 1,000 residents along the river had been evacuated prior to the operation.
Authorities said they plan to repair the wires after the waters recede while reconsidering whether to conduct the blasting operation.
Meteorological authorities have forecast another round of heavy rains in the area this week, stymieing flood-control efforts.
Continuous downpours have killed two people and disrupted the lives of more than 4 million residents in Anhui, as of yesterday noon.
At a press conference in Beijing yesterday, Ministry of Health spokesman Deng Haihua said the flood-hit regions had not reported any cases of epidemic or public health emergencies.
Meanwhile, the waters in a reservoir near the far western city of Golmud began to subside yesterday after hundreds of workers and soldiers finished digging a diversion channel, an official at the Qinghai Province water bureau said.
The reservoir at one point swelled to more than a meter above its warning level, accoridng to the Golmud city government website.
Over the weekend, about 10,000 residents were evacuated as soldiers transported sandbags, rocks and dirt and used bulldozers to dig the emergency waterway, the website said.
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