Death Toll of China's Gansu Mudslide May Rise, Disaster Relief Chief Says
The death toll from last week’s mudslide in Gansu, the worst calamity in the northwestern Chinese province in decades, may further increase from 702, according to a disaster relief official.
At least 702 people were reported dead, with another 1,042 missing as of 4 p.m. yesterday. Some of the preliminary casualty figures were being verified as rescue work progressed, the Ministry of Civil Affairs Disaster Relief Deputy Director-General Zhang Weixing said in a televised press conference today in Beijing.
A 52-year-old man was pulled out from the rubble yesterday after he had been buried for about 60 hours, China Daily reported today. Torrential rains are forecast to hit Zhouqu county, the site of the mudslide, until Aug. 14, the China Meteorological Administration on its website.
“This landslide was a natural disaster that occurred under extreme weather conditions,” Ministry of Water Resources Vice Minister Jiao Yong said at today’s press conference, denying that the tragedy was caused by excessive logging on the slopes surrounding the county.
The loose, weathered terrain of Zhouqu county, combined with the region’s sustained drought and torrential rains that hit the area on Aug. 7 had caused the landslides, Xinhua said, citing Minister of Land and Resources Xu Shaoshi. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that struck neighboring Sichuan province loosened the soil, contributing to the landslide.
The damage to property and public infrastructure in Zhouqu may be worse than the Sichuan earthquake, Guangzhou Daily newspaper reported today, citing Tian Baozhong, the director of Gansu’s civil affairs department.
“Infectious diseases had not been discovered in the affected area,” the Ministry of Health’s Deputy Emergency Office Director- General Zhang Guoxin said. “There had been no outbreak of diarrhea.” As many as 422 people have been treated as of 10 a.m. local time today, Zhang said.
An estimated 1.8 million cubic meters of mud and debris flattened three villages in Zhouqu, Xinhua said. In Yueyuan village, not a single structure was left intact by the landslides. The government will give local families 8,000 yuan ($1,182) of financial aid for each victim killed, Xinhua said, citing the Gannan Tibetan prefecture’s Communist Party chief Chen Jianhua.
--Vincent Ni in Beijing. Editors: Eugene Tang.
To contract Bloomberg News staff on this story: Vincent Ni in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7521 or vni1@bloomberg.net
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