Continual Disasters

As rescues carry on in Zhouqu, more disasters triggered by rain are assaulting other areas

MOURNING VICTIMS: People stand in silent tribute to mourn mudslide victims at Dongjie Village in Zhouqu County of northwest China’s Gansu Province on August 15. China observed a day of national mourning for the victims

By YIN PUMIN

Amid sirens and wailing horns, people across China stood in a silent tribute to victims of a massive mudslide in Zhouqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China’s Gansu Province on August 15.

On August 8, a deadly mudslide struck the county, killing 1,270 while 474 people remained missing as of August 17, according to the local disaster relief headquarters.

At 10 a.m. on August 15, more than 5,000 rescuers and villagers stood still on the debris of the mudslide at Dongjie Village in Zhouqu, bowing their heads in remembrance of those killed in the disaster.

In Beijing, the giant Chinese national flag at Tiananmen Square was lowered to half-mast.

National fl ags across the country and at overseas embassies and consulates were also lowered to half-mast.

Although the Shanghai Expo site was open on August 15, it also mourned. Its regular music broadcast was halted, and more than 100 performances and cultural activities were canceled,according to the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination.

Under requirement by the Ministry of Culture, public recreational activities, such as movies, karaoke and online entertainment including games and music were suspended that day.

It was the third time in two years that China has observed a period of national mourning for a disaster. The government ordered a three-day observance after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province that killed nearly 90,000 people and one day following April’s quake in Yushu in Qinghai Province that killed 2,700 people.

Rescue efforts continue

Before and after the three-minute mourning, rescuers continued to clear the debris,searching for bodies and spraying disinfectant in Zhouqu.

About 7,000 soldiers and armed policemen are still working around the clock to clear the rubble and restore transportation links.

The military men and armed police played a crucial role in rescuing people in Zhouqu, said Major General Wang Wenjie of the Lanzhou Military Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“People can count on us whenever disaster strikes. The army will always be a strong and reliable force in rescue missions,” Wang said at a press conference in Beijing on August 13.

On August 12, the Ministry of Health warned of disease-prevention challenges in Zhouqu, as dead bodies and dead animals entombed in the mud may easily decay in the hot weather.

In order to prevent disease, soldiers also sterilized an area of 128,000 square meters,while giving medical treatment to 12,000 lo-cal residents, Wang said.

Although wells had been dug to ensure water supply, the Ministry of Health said sterilization work was dif fi cult as the water may be contaminated during transportation and storage.

While more equipment is en route to Zhouqu, Wang said more epidemic prevention workers are ready to go if needed.

Besides personnel, 17 helicopters and airplanes and 35 rubber rafts have been sent to the disaster-hit area.

Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on August 16 that the supply of daily necessities for those affected by the mudslides in Gansu and Sichuan provinces is a top priority.

The ministry urged local authorities to help establish supply centers for goods and catering services and open more retail stores so that daily needs could be met.

It also urged local bureaus to strengthen market monitoring of price changes for goods such as rice, edible oil, meat, eggs and vegetables.

As of August 15, a total of 106 million yuan ($15.52 million), as well as relief materials worth more than 20.3 million yuan ($2.97 million), had been donated to Zhouqu, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The relief materials include 1,030 tents and 1,000 sleeping bags, as well as thousands of boxes of bottled water and instant noodles.

Authorities in Gansu have issued regulations to govern the purchase, acceptance and delivery of relief materials to ensure they are sent to the affected people in a safe and speedy way.

Rescue workers have been racing to restore water, communications and power supplies in the area.

Local government sources said on August 17 that emergency water supplies were currently keeping pace with demand.

Mobile phone networks have resumed operation, though landline services remain cut off in most of the county.

More disasters

China’s National Disaster Reduction Commission issued an urgent circular on August 16, ordering the civil affairs authorities across the country to step up measures to prevent and control fl oods and other raintriggered disasters.

The civil affairs authorities must closely monitor the development of torrential rains and guard against flooding and other raintriggered disasters, it said.

Further, it ordered the evacuation and relocation of residents in high-risk areas prone to fl ooding, landslides and mudslides,and said that disaster relief materials and temporary shelters must be in place well in advance.

It also asked civil affairs authorities to increase publicity of disaster-related information and survival tips.

Floods and other rain-triggered disasters have left more than 2,300 people dead and 1,200 missing nationwide this year.

The Gansu provincial meteorological bureau and land and resources bureau issued a level-IV warning for possible geological disasters in the area, according to local disaster relief headquarters.

Not far from Zhouqu, torrential rain left 36 people dead and 23 missing in Longnan as of August 16, provincial authorities said in a statement on August 17.

As of 4 p.m. on August 16, secondary disasters triggered by rain, including mudslides and landslides, had injured 295 people.

They caused 6,090 houses to collapse and damaged another 15,223.

The rain prompted the evacuation of 122,835 Longnan residents to emergency shelters, the statement said.

In Gansu’s neighboring province of Sichuan, fl oods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 13 people and left another 59 missing as of August 15.

Nearly 500,000 people are affected and more than 20,000 have been evacuated in the province, according to the emergency response office of the Sichuan Provincial Government.

The first landslide struck Qingping Township in Mianzhu on August 12 after heavy rain.

The rainfall amounted to 220 millimeters within two hours, and mudslides caused by the heavy rain left at least seven people dead and 500 others trapped in rural mountainous areas, according to Luo Yingguang, an information of ficial with the city.

The downpour, which struck Dujiangyan, a city battered by an 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12, 2008,caused a landslide that killed one villager and stranded more than 5,000 people in the city’s mountainous Longchi Town and Hongkou Township.

The massive mudslide that hit Wenchuan County on August 14 had killed 15 people and injured nine others by August 16, local authorities said on August 17.

A 200-meter section of National Highway 213, the only highway linking Wenchuan to the provincial capital Chengdu, was inundated with water 4 meters deep.

According to Chen Kefu, Deputy Director of the Department of Civil Affairs of Sichuan Province, the landslides damaged some 24,000 homes and 17,000 hectares of crops. Direct economic losses were about 1 billion yuan ($146.41 million). ■

ACTING IN ADVANCE: Soldiers ferry sandstones to the bank of the Bailong River in Zhouqu on August 16 to prevent further floods in the coming days