【2010.08.09 海峡时报】'Desperate' hunt for survivors

青蛙小王子

WENZIAN (China) - SOLDIERS and rescuers battled on Monday through an avalanche of sludge and debris as they raced to find survivors of mudslides that killed at least 127 people and left 1,300 missing in north-west China.
At least one village was entirely engulfed by a torrent of mud and rocks triggered by heavy rains in a remote area of Gansu province - the latest deadly disaster in a summer that has seen China's worst flooding in a decade. Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived in the devastated area on Sunday, urged the thousands of rescue workers at the scene to hasten efforts to locate survivors and provide relief to about 45,000 people who have been evacuated.
'For those buried under the debris, now it's the most crucial time to save their lives,' Mr Wen was quoted by the state Xinhua news agency as saying late on Sunday, saying efforts would continue as long as hope of survival existed. Authorities have sent more than 4,500 soldiers, police, firefighters and medics to help in search and rescue efforts after the landslides in the ethnically Tibetan region, triggered by a deluge of rain late on Saturday.
The task in hardest-hit Zhouqu county would not be an easy one. Streets were covered with mud as thick as two metres in some spots. Cars and homes were buried in the onslaught of debris. Roads and bridges were destroyed. 'Many people were trapped. Now sludge has become the biggest problem for rescue operations. It's too thick to walk or drive through,' said county head Diemujiangteng.
The landslides swept mud, houses, cars and other debris into a river running through Zhouqu, blocking the waterway and triggering flooding in the valley, the government said. At one point, half the county was submerged.
Mr Wen inspected the devastation in the worst-hit Sanyan valley, where a village of at least 300 houses was submerged by the mudslide, and many residents were still without power, clean drinking water or phone lines. The mudslides levelled an area five kilometres long and 500 m wide, Xinhua said, with floodwaters reaching as high as three storeys at one point. -- AFP
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