Landslide kills eight in Chongqing as rescuers search for 34 missing
Chinese state media said the slide buried homes in Pengshui county, displaced more than 1,100 people and prompted a large emergency response.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
2 min read
A landslide in southwestern China’s Chongqing municipality killed eight people and left 34 others missing on Friday, Chinese state media reported. The disaster buried homes in Pengshui county and forced more than 1,100 people from the area, prompting a large search and relief operation.
State media said the landslide struck at about 9:10 a.m. local time in Pengshui, a county in southeastern Chongqing near the borders with Hubei and Guizhou provinces. Rescue crews were working through debris in an effort to find people still unaccounted for, according to Chinese authorities.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed video of rock and soil spread across part of a street with residential and commercial buildings at the foot of a mountain. The footage showed emergency workers searching at the site, where authorities said homes had been buried.
Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, reported that 10 people had been pulled from the debris. Two of those rescued were seriously injured, according to Xinhua.
CCTV reported that more than 800 rescuers had been sent to the scene. Authorities cut water, power and gas service within a one-kilometre, or 0.6-mile, radius of the landslide site to reduce the risk of further problems during the rescue effort, according to state media.
Chinese authorities said more than 8,000 relief items had been delivered to Chongqing for people affected by the disaster. The supplies included tents, folding beds and family emergency kits.
A local official told a news conference that the site sits in steep terrain that is difficult to predict, according to state media. The official said unsafe rocks remained on the sides of the cliff, adding to concerns at the disaster area.
The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management said the central government had allocated 50 million yuan, about $7.36 million, in natural disaster relief funding. The money is intended to support search and rescue work, relief operations and assistance for residents affected by the landslide, the ministries said.
President Xi Jinping called on officials to conduct the rescue operation in a scientific way and to investigate the cause of the landslide quickly, Xinhua reported.
The Chongqing landslide followed another deadly slide earlier this month in the mountainous western province of Gansu. That disaster killed 21 people, according to earlier reports cited by Al Jazeera.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.