Man survives days under debris

BEIJING // A man was pulled alive from debris in north-west China's Gansu province yesterday, almost 60 hours after entire villages were engulfed by mudslides caused by torrential rains. The 52-year-old, Liu Ma Shindan, was carried away by stretcher after being located by sniffer dogs. Torrential rains on Saturday night led to mudslides that killed at least 700 and left more than 1,000 missing in the remote Zhouqu County in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

The overflow from a large artificial lake at a section of the Bailong River that had been blocked by a landslide caused much of the damage. Yesterday, relief supplies such as blankets, tents and food arrived at the area, although deliveries were hampered by blockages on many roads. These also prevented heavy lifting equipment from reaching the area, forcing rescuers to use hoes and shovels. As many as 7,000 troops were helping with the rescue and clean-up work.

Bodies wrapped in blankets could be seen on the streets, the Associated Press reported. One survivor, Yang Zhukai, was making coffins for victims. "These are all for relatives, for relatives killed by the mudslide. There's nothing left. We managed to escape with our lives. As far as relatives, 10 to 20 died from my village," he told Associated Press Television News. Concerns have been raised that agricultural practices may have worsened the mudslides.

Limin Zhang, a flooding and mudslide expert in the department of civil engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said the growing of crops on steep mountainsides, replacing indigenous vegetation, may have increased the flow of debris. "People grow vegetables and make the soil really loose and erodible. The steep terrain, loose material and steep rainfall make it very prone to debris flow," Mr Zhang said.

Better soil conservation efforts, diversion channels and debris barriers could help prevent a recurrence, he said. "Most local people have to settle in the same place in the future, so maybe some protection works are needed," he said. According to officials, a series of factors have combined with the torrential rain to cause the disaster. Chen Jianhua, the Communist Party chief of Gannan prefecture, blamed the 2008 earthquake that primarily struck neighbouring Sichuan province, along with "sustained drought" and soil erosion.

Environmentalists say the poor, including those living in parts of Gansu province, are "the most vulnerable" to climate-induced tragedies in China. Tom Wang, a spokesman for Greenpeace China, says climate change "plays a huge role" in worsening disasters. On Friday, before the Gansu tragedy, China's civil affairs ministry said 1,454 people had died in flooding incidents this year, the highest figure for a decade. Another 669 people were missing after flooding incidents even before the weekend's mudslides.

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