Landslide buries mountain village in SW China, fears for 141 people

[rooster59]

Landslide buries mountain village in SW China, fears for 141 people

 

People search for survivors at the site of a landslide that destroyed some 40 households, where more than 100 people are feared to be buried, local media reports, in Xinmo Village, Sichuan Province, China June 24, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Fears grew for 141 people missing in China after a landslide buried their mountain village in southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday, with reports that only three survivors had been pulled out of the mud and rock hours after the calamity struck.

 

The landslide swept over 46 homes as dawn broke at around 6 a.m. in Xinmo village in Maoxian county, a remote mountainous area of north Sichuan close to the region of Tibet, according to the official Xinhua state news agency.

 

President Xi Jinping urged on the rescue effort, but state broadcaster CCTV reported that by midday the only people rescued were a couple and their two-month-old baby.

 

Xinhua said the estimated number of missing was provided by local authorities.

 

The landslide blocked a two-kilometre (1.24 miles) stretch of a nearby river and 1.6 kilometres of road, according to Xinhua.

 

State television reports showed villagers and rescuers scrambling over mounds of mud and rocks that had slid down the mountainside. Xinhua said there were 400 people involved in the rescue effort and 6 ambulances were at the scene, and more were on their way.

 

The television images showed water thick with mud flowing over the site, submerging a car pushed from the road, while police and residents pulled on ropes to try to dislodge large boulders.

 

Police have closed roads in the county to all traffic except emergency services, the news agency said.

 

There is an extensive network of dams in the region, including two hydropower plants in Diexi town near the buried village.

 

A researcher from the Chengdu Chinese Academy of Social Science, a state-backed think tank, told China Radio International that heavy rainfall probably caused the slide. The researcher, whose name wasn't given, also warned of the risk that a dam could collapse, endangering communities further downstream.

 

The area is prone to earthquakes, including one in 1933 that resulted in parts of Diexi town becoming submerged by a nearby lake, and an 8.0 magnitude tremor in central Sichuan's Wenchuan county in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-24

[rooster59]

15 dead, scores missing hours after landslide buries Chinese village

By Christian Shepherd

 

Rescue workers search for survivors at the site of a landslide that occurred in Xinmo Village, Mao County, Sichuan province, China June 24, 2017. The writing on the flag reads: "Chengdu Fire Departmant Rescue Team". REUTERS/Stringer/Files

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Fifteen people were killed in a landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday and about 100 were believed to be still buried in the debris and feared dead, state media said.

 

The landslide swept over more than 60 homes as dawn broke in Xinmo, a remote village in north Sichuan province.

 

Rubble slid 800 metres (half a mile) down a steep slope to block a 2 km stretch of river and 1.6 km of road, official state news agency Xinhua said.

 

More than 1,000 workers were involved in the rescue effort, including more than a hundred medical staff.

 

Xinhua, quoting rescue headquarters, said 15 bodies had been retrieved from the debris by Saturday night.

 

More than 120 people were believed to have been buried, it said. Geological experts at the site said the chances of them surviving were slim, Xinhua said.

 

State broadcaster CCTV reported that by midday only three people had been pulled from the rubble -- a couple and their two-month-old baby. Another child of the family remained buried.

 

Photos from the official People's Daily showed rescue efforts continuing after nightfall using torches, and it said rescuers were trying to reach two people they believe they had heard trapped beneath the rubble.

 

State television reports showed villagers and rescuers scrambling over mounds of mud and rocks that had slid down the mountainside.

 

Television images showed water thick with mud flowing over the site, submerging a car pushed from the road, while police and residents pulled on ropes to try to dislodge large boulders.

 

Police have closed roads in the county to all traffic except emergency services, the news agency said.

 

There is an extensive network of dams in the area, which is close to the region of Tibet, including two hydropower plants in Diexi town near the buried village.

 

Heavy rain triggered the landslide, the provincial department of land and resources said, according to Xinhua.

 

The area is prone to earthquakes, including one in 1933 that resulted in parts of Diexi town becoming submerged by a nearby lake, and an 8.0 magnitude tremor in central Sichuan's Wenchuan county in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-25

[Srikcir]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

an 8.0 magnitude tremor in central Sichuan's Wenchuan county in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people.

In 2013 there was a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that killed 156 and injured 5,000. Happened along the same Longmenshan fault that led to the 2008 earthquake. It doesn't seem that the Chinese authorities are monitoring the potential for devastating earthquakes nor taking measures to assist relocation of communities away from danger.

[klauskunkel]

2 hours ago, Srikcir said:

In 2013 there was a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that killed 156 and injured 5,000. Happened along the same Longmenshan fault that led to the 2008 earthquake. It doesn't seem that the Chinese authorities are monitoring the potential for devastating earthquakes nor taking measures to assist relocation of communities away from danger.

they are busy building ghost cities