BEIJING: Dozens of people were buried and eight confirmed killed when a landslide struck a remote and mountainous part of southwestern China on Monday.

The pre-dawn landslide buried 18 homes and sparked the evacuation of more than 200 people when it struck in Zhen­xiong County, Yunnan province, state media said.

Eight people are confirmed dead and rescuers have extracted four, according to a report by state broadcaster CCTV, though the condition of the four was not immediately clear. Two hundred rescue workers have been dispatched as well as dozens of fire engines and other equipment, it added.

And as temperatures plunged on Monday night, dozens were still trapped, state news agency Xinhua said. Rescuers are “using all kinds of tools to search for survivors”, it added.

One local told the state-run Beijing News outlet that she was asleep when the disaster hit and that parts of her ceiling had fallen onto her head.

“At the time I thought it was an earthquake, but later I knew it was the hillslope collapsing,” anot­her resident told the outlet. Both were quoted under pseudonyms.

Footage shared on social media by a local broadcaster showed emergency workers in orange jumpsuits and helmets forming ranks outside a fire station as snowflakes whirled through the air.

Other images showed rescuers picking through towering piles of collapsed masonry in which a few personal belongings could be seen.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out” rescue efforts, CCTV reported. Xi “demanded that rescue forces are organised quickly… and efforts made to reduce casualties as far as possible,” the broadcaster reported him as saying.

Landslides common

Landslides are common in Yunnan, a far-flung and largely impoverished region of China where steep mountain ranges butt against the Himalayan plateau.

Monday’s disaster occurred in a rural area surrounded by towering peaks dusted with snow, state media footage showed.

There was no immediate official explanation for what may have caused the landslide. Efforts to establish what happened are underway, Xinhua reported.

China has experienced a string of natural disasters in recent months, some following extreme weather events such as sudden, heavy downpours.

In September, rainstorms in the southern region of Guangxi triggered a mountain landslide that killed at least seven people, according to media reports.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2024