July 16, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1424

BEIJING, July 15: Rescuers searched frantically on Tuesday for bodies after scores of people were reported dead or missing from landslides in the upper reaches of the Yangtze river basin, while workers along the central Huai river valley rushed to strengthen dykes ahead of more rain.

The official death toll from flooding this year stood at 569 as of July 11, but at least 87 more people have since been reported dead or missing in four landslides in the Yangtze river basin.

Rescuers in southwestern Sichuan province said there was little chance of finding alive 49 people missing following a landslide in Danba county, while the Xinhua news agency said that 12 people missing from a landslide in central Hubei province were also unlikely to be found.

Some 51 tourists and local Tibetan song and dance performers were believed to have gathered in Shuikazi village on Friday night when the landslide from the side of the 4,000 meter Qiongshangou Mountain came crashing down on them.

Two bodies have been found while another 71 people stranded were rescued Monday.

In the middle reaches of the Yangtze in Hubei province, 12 people were confirmed dead, while rescuers held out little hope for 12 others missing since a landslide hit Qianjianping village Sunday morning.

Up-river from the Hubei tragedy in Chongqing municipality, six people were killed and two seriously injured in a Sunday landslide in Fengjie city, while six workers also perished Sunday in nearby Fengdu city.

In Sichuan’s Kangding county, two people were killed and another severely injured in a mudslide during severe rainstorms Monday, the Xinhua news agency said.

And in Yuanba district in Sichuan’s Guangyuan city, which has been pounded by severe thunderstorms, most areas have been flooded with waters of up to 1.2 meters trapping residents, Xinhua said.

Meanwhile, waters on the central Huai river in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces continued to recede Tuesday after exceeding warning levels last week during an incessant downpour.

Meteorologists were predicting more rain in the river basin, one of China’s major food-producing regions, and warned of more flooding.

The Ministry of Finance Monday earmarked 78 million yuan (9.4 million dollars) in emergency funds for the Huai river, bringing the total amount of disaster aid to nearly 230 million yuan.

The ministry Tuesday allocated another 200 million yuan to 13 provinces and cities, including the ones in the Huai river valley, to reinforce or rebuild dykes, Xinhua said.

Since the beginning of the year, the ministry has allocated 760 million yuan to fight floods.

On Tuesday, a flood crest on the river was moving eastward towards Jiangsu’s Hongze Lake and would threaten cities and towns there, said Phorir Gundmundsson, an International Red Cross official in the region.

“They are expecting the crest to hit the Hongze Lake area around midnight tonight, so a lot of people are out strengthening dykes and embankments,” Gundmundsson told AFP.