Six dead in central China landslide
China, Nov 10, 2008 - A landslide
in central China on Friday (November 7) left at least six people dead after
another body was recovered on Saturday (November 8), the official Chinese
Xinhua news agency reported. The landslide occurred in Huanxin village
in Pingjiang county in central Hunan province. According to Xinhua, the
victims were all from one family. One other person was seriously injured,
Xinhua reported. The landslide was caused by "lingering rain"
which loosened the hillside, Xinhua reported rescuers as saying. The local
government issued a warning to villagers in mountains and near local reservoirs
about the possibility of more rain-related disasters, Xinhua reported.
Earlier this month, 10 days of heavy rains triggered floods and landslides
that left at least 51 dead and another 43 missing in southwestern China.
Local officials and state media reported that parts of the region were
hit by their worst floods in more than 100 years. According to the China
Daily, rains in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region triggered the worst flooding
in the provincial capital, Nanning, since 1907. At least 40 of the dead
were from hard-hit Chuxiong prefecture, in Yunnan province, which was hit
by a massive landslide. According to Agence France-Presse, state media
reported that more than 2.4 million were reported to have been affected
in Yunnan and Guangxi. According to Xinhua, over 215,000 acres (87,000
hectares) of crops were affected and the floods have caused US$100 million
(700 million yuan) in economic losses thus far.