The Hindu : Many dead in China mudslides

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

International

International - Globescan

Many dead in China mudslides

BEIJING: A landslide in central China on Sunday killed four persons and left 20 missing, while rescue workers in the nation's southwest searched frantically for 50 people feared dead from rain-fed mudslides, official sources said. One person was confirmed dead from the mudslides that hit Sichuan province on Friday night, and 50 people were still missing on Sunday. "It is difficult to predict if anyone can be rescued," said an official. "It was raining hard, the earth was loose, and the mud just swept down the mountain," said another official. China suffers from deadly floods and mudslides during summer rains, which begin in early June. More than 500 people have been killed by flooding since the beginning of this year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Sunday's landslide in central China's Hubei province didn't appear related to flooding, local officials said. It hit a remote hilly area, hindering relief efforts, the official Xinhua reported. Other details weren't immediately available. In eastern China's flood-hit Anhui province, the water levels on the upper reaches of the swollen Huai were beginning to fall, sources said. Still, more than 1.5 million people were working to watch dikes bracing the river for any signs of leaks(in the picture, an evacuated villager takes care of her two grandchildren at a shelter in Jiangsu province).

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