THE DEATH toll from last weekend’s massive landslides that swept away buildings in Zhouqu County has risen to 1,117 and the hopes of finding more survivors beneath the mud and debris have faded.
At least 627 people were still missing, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported last night.
Heavy machinery has arrived to help with the relief effort, but at this stage the focus of the drive is to clean up the sludge and debris and remove bodies from the site of the landslide, China’s worst for decades.
The National Meteorological Centre has also warned there was a “relatively large” chance of more landslides in the coming days, as the rain was expected to grow heavier, with up to 90 millimetres forecast for tomorrow.
There was some consolation for the beleaguered inhabitants of Zhouqu County, as rescue engineers said that it was unlikely that the barrier lake formed by the mudslide would collapse and cause even more devastation.
Whole communities were devastated by the landslides early on Sunday morning, when the Bailong River burst its banks and swallowed up whole villages.
Jiao Yong, vice minister of the ministry of water resources, said that engineers had drained the lake and the level was sinking.
“The danger of the barrier lake collapsing has been basically eliminated,” said Mr Jiao, adding that preparations had been made to deal with any further pressure on the barrier lake as heavy rains continued to fall. He said relief workers have dug a 1km-long drainage channel along the barrier lake.
Mr Jiao said greater effort has been put into meteorological and flood forecasting in trying to deal with the issue.
“So far it has worked. The water level has fallen 0.81 metres,” he said.
Rescuers, most of them People’s Liberation Army or People’s Armed Police, are focusing on trying to secure the area to avoid further destruction, although relatives are still hopeful of finding lost loved ones.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the chances of finding more survivors were getting smaller every hour. There have been exceptions, such as a 50-year-old man who had been trapped in knee-deep mud on the second floor of a hotel, but the chances were slim now.
The rescuers are also looking to ensure clean drinking water for the area, with most local sources destroyed by the deluge or too polluted to use.
They are also trying to control the spread of disease.
More than 10,000 police, troops and firefighters have been sent to Zhouqu, but some people are still angry at the government over policies they felt left the town vulnerable to landslides.
Officials have warned for years that heavy tree-felling and rapid hydro development were making the mountain area around the town vulnerable to land slips, government reports show.
“This has happened before. The government knew it could happen again and did nothing to prevent it,” said local farmer Yang, who did not want to give his full name.
Shaking with anger, he stood beside a hole in the ground where he had been digging in search of five buried relatives. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)