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At least 8 dead as landslide buries homes in China's Chongqing
The landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing on Friday forced more than 1,100 people to evacuate.
A landslide on Friday in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing buried residential buildings, forced more than 1,100 people to evacuate and trapped others, state media reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping urged comprehensive inspections as rescue efforts were ongoing.
According to a report by Xinhua, at least 8 people have lost their lives due to the landslide while 34 people are reported missing. County leader Ren Xujiang told a press conference that 18 people who were trapped were rescued, with eight of those not surviving.
State broadcaster CCTV said that the landslide occurred at around 9:08 am in Chongqing’s Pengshui County. Massive amounts of rocks and soil washed downslope, burying more than 10 residential buildings.
Water, electricity and gas supplies were cut off within a 1-kilometer (0.6-mile) radius of the landslide to prevent further disruptions. Several power poles were buried, disrupting electricity.
Images by the Chinese media showed part of a mountainside collapsing onto a residential area. Several buildings were located next to the collapse site, while rescue crews combed through the debris.
Xi urged authorities to swiftly determine the cause of the disaster, and to "identify and eliminate geological disaster risks and other potential hazards".
Rescue efforts on despite difficulty
Rescue efforts were hindered by the unstable terrain and the risk of another landslide, according to the media reports in China. Over 800 rescuers were on the site.
Images shared on social media showed orange-clad rescuers using excavators to dig through the rubble. At one point, a team of rescuers pulled a survivor out of the debris.
The area where the landslide happened is known for "unpredictable" steep terrain, a local official told a press conference late Friday, adding that dangerous rocks still remain along the sides of the cliff.
Large slabs of rock had slid beside buildings into a waterway below. Two buildings that looked about five and 15 stories high were damaged but still standing.
The rain-triggered landslide occurred near a section of the Wujiang River, which cuts through karst mountains peppered with small towns and terraces.
Authorities said they sent more than 8,000 disaster relief items to Chongqing, including tents, folding beds and family emergency kits.
Pengshui County is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou. The landslide in Chongqing comes less than two weeks after another landslide in northwestern Gansu province buried 33 people, 21 of whom were killed.
