Eight people have been killed, and 34 more are missing after a massive, rain-triggered landslide buried homes on the outskirts of China’s southwestern Chongqing municipality and sparked a frantic rescue operation, authorities said.
The landslide, which hit Pengshui County after days of heavy rains destabilised the mountainside, unleashed about 18,000 cubic meters of earth and rock onto a residential area, burying more than 10 homes and trapping dozens of residents, according to Chinese officials. Ten survivors have been pulled out of the rubble, two of them seriously injured.
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The region was hit after days of torrential rains destabilised the mountain.
More than 800 emergency responders-including police officers, military personnel, firefighters, and medics-are scrambling through the rubble of the affected village in search for the missing, their efforts complicated by steady rains, unstable ground and the threat of further landslides.
Rescuers, using heavy machinery and search dogs as well as drones, have been moving carefully, trying to avoid triggering another collapse while digging through the thick layer of mud and debris.
The authorities evacuated more than 1,100 residents from the nearby areas, suspended electricity, water and gas in some areas of the disaster zone, and have set up emergency shelters.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all agencies involved to make their best effort in the search and rescue, and ordered an investigation into the cause of the disaster, as well as to strengthen measures to prevent further geological disasters in other dangerous areas. Geologists are also assessing if other nearby communities are at risk of further landslides.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission announced an emergency allocation of 30 million yuan (about $4.2 million) to aid in rescue operations, disaster relief, and recovery of damaged infrastructure.
The disaster is the latest weather-related incident this year to strike China, which has seen widespread extreme rainfall, floods and landslides in multiple provinces during the annual summer monsoon season.
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Increasingly extreme weather events are elevating the risks of geological disasters, particularly in mountainous regions, scientists have warned.
