China's disaster relief authorities have stepped up the emergency response to a landslide that hit a village in the country's southwest, a statement from the Civil Affairs Ministry said Thursday.

A team of officials from five government ministries had set off to assist relief work at Wama Village, Yunnan Province, where at least four people died and 44 are missing, said the statement.

The team is headed by Vice Civil Affairs Minister Jiang Li.

The ministry and the State Disaster Relief Commission had agreed to raise the emergency response to level III from level IV.

Under a level III plan, the second lowest of the four responses, the committee and the ministry should send a work team within 24 hours to the disaster zone, and allocate relief materials within 48 hours if losses are considered to be relatively extensive.

Almost 12 hours after the landslide which struck at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, rescuers had saved 23 people from the rubble of homes in the village in Longyang District.

The local government estimated 71 people from 20 families had been trapped in the immediate aftermath.

According to the ministry's working regulation on emergency response issued last year, emergency response plans should be initiated to help with relief work in natural disasters. The level depends on damages and losses as well as the number of affected people.