Rescue team sent to SW China for relief efforts

BEIJING -- The China Earthquake Administration has sent a rescue team to a rainstorm-battered city in southwest China to help with disaster relief work.

The six-member team has arrived in the city of Dujiangyan in southwest China's Sichuan Province and will help local rescuers with search and rescue operations.

A landslide that took place in Dujiangyan's village of Sanxi on Wednesday morning buried 11 homes and killed at least 43 people.

The disaster is believed to have been triggered by severe rainstorms that have been hitting the area since Monday evening.

Some 118 of the city's residents have gone missing during the storms. Most are tourists, local officials said.

Local authorities are continuing to verify the exact number of those missing and have expanded their search area.

The rainstorms are the most severe storms seen in Dujiangyan since 1954.