Landslides cause more casualties

Xinhua, September 18, 2011

More people were reported to have died in landslides that were triggered by downpours in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, local officials said Sunday.

A heavy rainfall that began on Saturday night has triggered a landslide that buried a residential house in the suburban district of Jintai in Baoji City, some 175 km west of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

Two people were digged out of the debris but later died after they were rushed to a nearby hospital, the municipal government of Baoji said in a statement.

The downpours also incurred a landslide in the same district early Sunday morning and three buried people have been retrieved and sent to a local hospital, according to the statement.

The three wounded are in stable conditions, doctors at the hospital said.

Also on Saturday, a rain-triggered landslide hit two mountain-side factories in a suburban district of Xi'an, leaving at least nine people dead and five others injured, while rescuers are searching for an unknown number people who are still missing by Sunday noon.

Torrential rains have been pounding nearly 60 of Shaanxi's counties since September 4, triggering mountain torrents and landslides.

As of Saturday, 11 people have been killed as a result of the downpours, which also forced some 117,000 people to relocate, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

About 26,000 houses collapsed and the direct economic loss was estimated at 1.46 billion yuan (233.6 million U.S. dollars), the department said.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast on Sunday more heavy rains in the country's northern provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi.

Continuous rainfalls will increase risks of floods and related geologic hazard in the areas, NMC said in the statement, urging local authorities to take preventive measures.