China landslide: Rescuers battle extreme weather to reach trapped residents

Rescuers in southwestern China are in a race against time and extreme weather conditions to reach residents trapped by a massive landslide that struck Chongqing’s Pengshui county on Friday morning. The disaster has destroyed buildings and buried people under mud and debris, adding to a recent spate of extreme weather events across China.

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Local community officials in Hanjia subdistrict of Chongqing’s Pengshui Miao and Tujia autonomous county, witnessed sporadic rockfalls and issued an emergency warning at about 8am on Friday. They rushed to evacuate more than 60 residents, according to mainland news portal thepaper.cn.

Local officials in Hanjia subdistrict issued an emergency warning at about 8 a.m. Friday due to sporadic rockfalls, managing to evacuate over 60 residents. However, about an hour later, a large landslide occurred, crashing through residential buildings as people were in the process of leaving. By midday, nine people had been rescued, none with life-threatening injuries. The county government stated that rescue efforts are ongoing and any casualty news would be released later.

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Nine people had been rescued by midday, and none had life-threatening injuries, the outlet said.

In response to the geological disaster, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management activated a Level 2 national emergency response, the second-highest level. A working group led by Minister Zhang Chengzhong has been dispatched to guide the rescue operations. Additionally, 100 workers and specialized equipment from the Natural Disaster Engineering Emergency Rescue Centre have been sent to assist local personnel in aiding those trapped.

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The county government said the rescue effort was ongoing and any news of casualties would be announced later.