Rescuers race to find survivors days after China landslide

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By CGTN's Zheng Yibing, Li Yang

Rescuers in southwest China’s Sichuan province are in a race against time during the 72-hour golden window to find more than 100 villagers still buried by Saturday's landslide which smashed into a mountain village at 5:38 a.m.

At least ten bodies have been found. At this stage, the chances of finding any survivors are quickly fading, and it seems miracles are now needed, to find any survivors. However, the search and rescue work will continue until all hope has been drained.

Several bodies of buried villagers have been found and chances of finding survivors are fading, two days after the devastating landslide occurred early on Saturday. /CGTN Photo

Over 2,000 rescuers are working at the site, including firefighters, armed police, medic-personnel and volunteers.

Mi Hongli, a Chinese Armed Police officer, said they would strengthen their will, and go all out now to seize the golden rescue period, and to reinforce the search and rescue efforts.

Rescuers are trying to establish a life-saving tunnel across torrent along the Xinmo village to find survivors at the other side. /CGTN Photo

Now, more measures are also being taken for the safety of the rescuers, including monitoring the rock mass over the site, after a minor landslide occurred late on Saturday.

You Zhengxing, an expert from China’s State Administration of Work Safety said they had been observing the tiniest changes there, and reporting the relevant figures to the command center in case of an emergency for the rescuers.

Rescuers taking a short break have to sleep on the rubble. /Photo by Mianyang fire fighting team

Other efforts include digging out a tunnel from the barrier lakes caused by the landslide. However, this is still not enough. And to prevent any secondary disasters from happening, rescuers are also trying to establish a comprehensive understanding of the local terrain. Geological surveys and images are crucial for this mission.

Li Shiqiao, an engineer from Chinese Armed Police, is making efforts with his team members. He said they were taking secondary disaster examinations, collecting information on the landslide site, including its range, size and potential dangers, in order to provide reference for future disaster reduction and prevention.

Besides precautions, authorities are keen to find out what exactly caused this devastating landslide.

The deep-slope of landslide has been closely monitored for fear of secondary disasters happening. /CGTN Photo

Professor Xu Qiang has participated in such evaluation. He is a deputy director from a national key lab of hazard-prevention based in Chengdu University of Technology. Xu said the landslide area is a geological-hazard-prone area. He said the landslide occurred over a deep slope in the mountain, and the loose geo-structure here is the main reason, which was caused by the great earthquakes of 1933 and 2008 in the neighboring area, and the continuous rain in recent days was the cause.

Through these comprehensive measures and analysis, secure rescue operations can continue in this once-beautiful mountain village. For the rescuers, although hope is diminishing fast, they won't relent until the last moment.

1455km