At least 127 dead, nearly 2,000 missing in rain-triggered landslides in NW China's Gansu Province

19:40, August 08, 2010



Rescuers move a victim's body from the landslide site in Zhouqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2010. At least 96 people have been confirmed dead in landslides triggered by torrential rains in Zhouqu County. (Xinhua/Wang Yanjun)


At least 127 people have been confirmed dead Sunday in landslides triggered by torrential rains in northwest China's Zhouqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

By 3 p.m., 76 people were injured, while nearly 2,000 others in the county were still missing. About 45,000 people have been evacuated, according to a statement from the provincial civil affairs department.

As of noon, more than 680 residents, had been rescued by local residents. And the water level in the county seat of Chengguan Township had declined by 40 cm, after floodwaters carrying mud and rocks submerged half the town in the small hours on Sunday, said Mao Shengwu, head of the prefecture.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived at Zhouqu County around 4:30 p.m.

RESCUE EFFORTS

More than 300 homes in Yueyuan Village in the county had been buried. The number of casualties in village were still not known, Mao said.

The mud-rock flow has leveled an area about 5 km long and 500 meters wide in the county seat, according to a statement posted on the website of the provincial government.

The local rescue headquarters has also organized 1,000 more rescuers to search for the missing people in the area.

Sludge as thick as two meters was spread across some major roads in the county. Many trapped residents were waiting for rescuers atop buildings, said a statement from the general office of the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China.

A primary school and some governmental offices in the county were damaged, said the statement.

The Bailong River, which runs through the county seat, has overflowed and a large body of slow moving water had engulfed Chengguan Township.

"Torrential rains began to fall at around 10 p.m. Saturday. Then there were landslides and many people were trapped. Now sludge has become the biggest hinderance to rescue operations. It's too thick to walk or drive through," said Diemujiangteng, head of the county.

"Since excavators can't reach the site, we can only use spades and our hands to rescue the buried." said He Youxin, an officer with the Gannan branch of the Gansu Headquarters of Chinese People's Armed Police Force.

His rescue team has saved 23 people and recovered 15 bodies. But, "It's very hard to locate the people washed away by floods. It's hard to say what their chances of survival are," he said.

More than 600 soldiers sent by the PLA Lanzhou Military Area Command arrived at the county. "We haven't found any trapped people," said Pu Junli, head of a 60-strong advance force.

More armed policemen, fire fighters and PLA soldiers to help with the rescue are bringing heavy machines from Gansu, neighboring Sichuan Province and Beijing.

Small mud-rock flows still were occurring in the county, according to a report from a 10-strong rescue team sent by the fire department of Sichuan.

A Xinhua reporter learned from the Gansu Electric Power Corporation that two thirds of county's power was out. And some communications links were also down because of the electricity cuts.

The corporation has sent more than 40 people with electricity generators to the site. But they were blocked about 68 km away from the county seat by landslides covering the roads.

The provincial civil affairs department has sent 1,800 tents, 20,000 boxes of instant noodles and 20,000 boxes of bottled drinking water to the county.

Peng Wei, head of the county's fire department said, "I heard the fierce storm around 11:30 p.m., later I found that a mud-rock flow had hit our residential building. The cars in the yard had all been damaged," Peng added.

"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.

Water spewed out the sides of the Bailong River due to debris blocking it and took a different downstream course than usual, engulfing buildings along the riverbank. A total of 19,000 people living in Shawan and Lianghekou townships situated below the lake had been evacuated, Mao said.

The landslides occurred at around midnight in Zhouqu County and a barrier lake had formed on the Bailong River at around 1 a.m.

The barrier lake is 3 km long, 100 meters wide and 9 meters deep. It kept some 1.5 million cubic meters of water, according to the provincial flood control department.

Two helicopters carrying demolition experts left for the landslide-hit county at 6:30 a.m. Sunday to blow up materials blocking the river's flow, according to the provincial flood relief headquarters.

The downpours had petered out in the county, but the prefecture's meteorological bureau has forecast heavy rains on the upper reach of Bailong River on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Zhouqu County covers 3,010 square km and has a population of 134,700, about 33 percent of which are Tibetans. It is located in the southeast part of the prefecture, the seat of which is about 276 km away from Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu.

Source: Xinhua


Rescuers search for missing personnel in Zhouqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2010. At least 96 people have been confirmed dead in landslides triggered by torrential rains in Zhouqu County. (Xinhua/Wang Yanjun)