34 dead, 4 missing after landslide at hydropower construction site in eastern China
The death toll from a landslide at a hydropower project in southern China after days of heavy rain rose yesterday to 34 – with four people still missing.
A rescue team of more than 1,000 firefighters and police was boosted by the arrival of 53 workers who took part in recovery operations for the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
The team is searching for survivors buried by an estimated 100,000 cubic metres of rock and mud that fell onto an area housing construction workers and an office building in Taining county, Fujian province, on Sunday.
But Fujian’s weather authority warned that persistent heavy rainfall could hinder the rescue efforts.
The Ministry of Land and Resources warned the site was at risk of a second landslide or related disasters such as flooding, gas leaks and disease outbreaks.
Heavy rains hamper search for 41 missing in Fujian mudslide
More than 4,000 people across Taining county who lived in areas prone to rain-related disasters had been evacuated, People’s Daily reported. Operations at all mining plants and construction sites in the county had been halted, and classes at all schools suspended.
The construction site was an extension of the Chitan hydropower station, which belongs to the local branch of state-owned China Huadian Corporation, and was expected to begin operations in August next year, Xinhua reported.
As the rescue efforts continued, heated online discussion focused on the location of the site near to a reservoir’s flood discharge area.
Li Lixin, general manager of China Huadian Corporation’s Fujian branch, blamed heavy rainfall for the disaster.
Li said the location was chosen after “rigorous evaluation”, and that regulations were strictly followed during construction.
At least 66 missing as mountain landslide destroys homes in China’s Shaanxi province
He said that a factory at the site had survived a major flood in 2002 and there had been no landslide in the 30 years since it was built.
An official at the county department said the cause of the landslide was unclear, but the area had seen rainfall in the past few days.
A villager said there had been no landslide nearby in memory, even though the area was surrounded by mountains.
Sun Jinzhong, a professor at China University of Geosciences, told The Beijing News the most probable cause of the landslide was either rainfall or an earthquake. Man-made causes such as construction at the foot of the mountain might have contributed, he said.
The ministry warned of risks across the nation as the flooding season began. It also called for stronger efforts to prevent, detect and warn about disasters.
Besides Fujian, the National Meteorological Centre has forecast heavy rainfall in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces.
The world’s largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges Reservoir, on China’s longest river, the Yangtze, recorded an inflow of 17,800 cubic metres per second on Sunday, the highest since 1992, reported Xinhua.
